by Matt Barr

Shouting "freedom of speech" in a crowded blogosphere

I was reminded of Dennis Rodman last night when I read this about tyrannical Michigan Supreme Court justices stifling the dissent of lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. Fieger called appeals court judges Nazis and and jackasses on the radio a couple times because they reversed a judgment favorable to his client.

Back in 1997, Rodman was fined $50,000 by the NBA for "obscene and insensitive remarks regarding Mormons" during a Bulls-Jazz finals. Somebody let out a man-on-the-street radio interviewer to ask Chicagoans what they thought of this. One woman was roundly against it because Rodman "has freedom of speech." This was when I knew the country was irreparably doomed.

Rodman was a member of a union which bound him to a collective bargaining agreement that allowed the NBA to discipline its players for such things. Rodman could have said whatever he wanted fine-free by simply not playing basketball in the NBA. But that's not fair! Whatever. Never mind, too that nobody has "freedom of speech" that protects them from private entities.

Mr. Fieger isn't in a similar situation, because he's commenting on issues of public concern and is getting it from a government entity. But Mr. Fieger is an officer of the court, and each and every officer of the court in this country agrees to comport him or herself in ways that don't involve calling judges jackasses in public. He is perfectly free to give up his law license and call anyone a Nazi he wishes. But that's not fair!

Fine, but it's also not First Amendment. Today's sign that the Republic is doomed is that the Michigan Supreme Court decided 4-3 that Fieger could be reprimanded. Three of them thought "Fieger's speech was political and should be protected under the U.S. Constitution."

You cede the freedom to caustically criticize judges in public when you accept admission to the bar. Our true commitment to freedom of speech is eroded when we start trying to relieve people of their affirmatively assumed obligations to behave themselves.

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