WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT A RIGHT IS:

 I've been speaking and writing about free speech for a quarter-century. I've been litigating free-speech issues just as long. Two things stand out to me.

First, the law of free speech has mainly improved. Americans might have more legal defenses against government censorship now than they ever have before. If the government moves against your speech based on your viewpoint and you fight back, you're likely to win.

Second (and more importantly) the culture of free speech has decayed. Individuals and organizations are far more sensitive and far less tolerant of dissent than they were even in the recent past. People in academia and in much of corporate America who report increasingly politicized workplaces, with HR departments weaponized in the service of identity politics social-media accounts monitored for thought crimes. People are all too aware of social-media pile-ons, and they know that one complaint -- even if hypersensitive and meritless -- can derail a career.

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