The Year in First Amendment Rights: Television Censorship

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah Foundation, Inc. (ACLU of Utah), ACLU, and the law firm Jenner and Block announced a historic settlement agreement on behalf of Mitski Avalōx and Southern Utah Drag Stars (Drag Stars). The case, Southern Utah Drag Stars v. the City of St. George, was filed in May of 2023 after the city of St. George denied Drag Stars a special event permit for a family-friendly drag show. The city’s refusal to grant Drag Stars a permit is part of a years-long effort to target drag performances and LGBTQ+ pride events in violation of the First and 14th Amendments, as well as the Utah Constitution. “The courage of Drag Stars and Mitski Avalōx to bring this case affirmed what has always been true: all Utahns are entitled to the fundamental protections of the First Amendment, said Thomas Ford, staff attorney at the ACLU of Utah. “This is a win not just for our clients, but for all people who care about limiting the government’s ability to impose subjective views of what they deem appropriate on all of us.” On March 3, 2023, Drag Stars applied for a city of St. George special events permit to host a family-friendly drag event, Allies & Community Drag Show Festival, at J.C. Snow Park. A few weeks later, the city denied the application, alleging that Drag Stars did not comply with the city of St George’s advertising ordinance, an obscure local rule which prohibits advertising for special events until the event permit is granted. Drag Stars appealed the denial, and during the appeal process, at least one city council member acknowledged that the advertising ban is not enforceable. Nonetheless, the city of St. George denied Drag Stars’ appeal. In May of 2023, the ACLU of Utah, ACLU, and Jenner & Block filed a lawsuit on behalf of Drag Stars and Mitski Avalōx challenging the city of St. George’s denial of the event permit and unlawful censorship of drag performances in violation of our client’s First Amendment rights. On June 16, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Utah granted Drag Stars’ request for a preliminary injunction and ordered the city of St. George to reverse its denial of Drag Stars’ special event application and issue a permit allowing Drag Stars to host their family-friendly drag performance. In doing so, the court recognized that the protections of the First Amendment extend to drag performances like the family-friendly event hosted by Drag Stars. “Amid nationwide attacks on LGBTQ+ people, this settlement is a reminder that the First Amendment protects everyone,” said Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “Drag is undeniably a form of artistic and political expression and we couldn’t be more pleased that our clients’ rights have been vindicated.” Under the 2025 settlement agreement, the city of St. George admitted that their denial of Drag Stars’ special event application violated Drag Stars’ First Amendment rights and agreed to publicly apologize to Drag Stars for this violation. "This victory isn’t just mine—it’s a win for every queer person who’s been told to stay invisible. Drag is a powerful form of expression, affirming that the First Amendment protects us all, including drag performers. The city council of St. George tried to censor us but the Constitution was on our sides,” said Mitski Avalōx, founder of Southern Utah Drag Stars and the plaintiff in this case.

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with more than 40 federal agencies seeking urgent transparency about the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s secretive efforts to access and analyze Americans’ sensitive personal information. The ACLU also sent letters to key congressional leaders, calling on Congress to fulfill its constitutional role in conducting immediate oversight of this executive overreach and DOGE’s unchecked access to Americans’ data. The move comes amid growing concerns that DOGE—a hastily assembled office created on President Trump’s first day in office—has been infiltrating federal agencies and gaining access to databases, including Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) systems, that contain information on individuals’ finances, health records, and social security data. As DOGE reportedly uses AI to decide what critical public services and programs to cut, failure to protect this data not only creates the perfect storm for an unimaginable data breach or hack but also endangers the health and safety of millions of Americans. Ultimately, Trump cannot slash federal programs – including community health centers, refugee resettlement agencies, and early education programs without massive amounts of data, and DOGE is providing him with everything he needs. In its FOIA requests, the ACLU is asking for any records that reveal whether DOGE or its representatives have sought or obtained access to databases containing personally identifiable information, financial records, healthcare data, or other sensitive government-held records of Americans. The request also seeks information on DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence to analyze government data, raising alarms about the potential for mass surveillance and politically motivated misuse of that deeply personal information. The letter to congressional leaders similarly underscores that the executive branch’s flaunting of long-standing legal requirements and norms undermines Americans’ privacy and Congress’s constitutional role. “The American people deserve to know if their private financial, medical, and personal records are being illegally accessed, analyzed, or weaponized by Trump's unaccountable team of unvetted outsiders,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “There’s every indication that DOGE has forced its way into the government’s most tightly protected databases and systems, without consideration of longstanding privacy safeguards mandated by Congress. We need answers now.” DOGE leadership is cynically claiming that its employees and representatives, who are largely housed within government agencies, are not subject to FOIA. That is why – in addition to DOGE – the ACLU has sent FOIA requests to more than 40 agencies that maintain sensitive or personal information, including the Treasury Department, the IRS, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Social Security Administration, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. “DOGE's access to sensitive personal records of millions of people is deeply alarming and raises significant legal questions,” said Cody Venzke, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “Congress must step up, do its job, and check the president’s overreach.”

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union is urging a federal court to step in after the FBI and DHS failed to produce even a single record on the use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) and fusion centers to monitor and disseminate information on protestors and communities of color. This comes eight months after the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for these documents, and six months after we sued for them. JTTFs and fusion centers are core components of the U.S. government’s massive domestic intelligence apparatus, serving as nexus points for information sharing among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. There are nearly 200 JTTFs and 80 fusion centers around the country. They operate with minimal oversight and scant accountability, and have long histories of wrongly targeting activists and communities of color, often associating protest with “terrorism,” without any evidence of wrongdoing. The ACLU’s FOIA request seeks to shed light on JTTF and fusion center surveillance during both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration to assess their impact on privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. These documents are especially timely given the recent order by the Trump administration that, pending the creation of “Homeland Security Task Forces,” the JTTFs are to directly coordinate with DHS, as well as all state and local agencies, “to assist in the execution of President Trump’s immigration-related initiatives.” “As Donald Trump ramps up his abhorrent mass deportation regime and pressures government agencies and officials to follow his reckless orders, it’s more important than ever for the American people to know what guardrails, if any, the FBI and DHS have in place to protect the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of our communities,” said Aamra Ahmad, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. During the first Trump administration, then-Attorney General Barr deployed JTTFs to surveil racial justice activists protesting the police killings of George Floyd and other Black people. And, around the country, fusion centers have similarly targeted political, religious, and social justice activists, disseminating intelligence reports that warn law enforcement to surveil and report on protestors and protest activity. For example, in 2019, the Virginia Fusion Center sensationalized environmental activists’ protests against gas pipeline construction, equating a boycott threat and ignoring police commands with designated foreign terrorist organizations’ bombings and violence.

In a prominent defamation suit, the ACLU is urging a trial court to rigorously apply the First Amendment rule that statements of opinion are protected, so long as speakers share the facts that led to them. Without this First Amendment protection, unchecked defamation lawsuits would silence the critics of more powerful speakers, and stifle scientific discussions and academic inquiry.