In the Fight with the ACLU

The left-wing activist organization runs an intimidation campaign against me.

Politics is the art of conflict—and with victory often comes recrimination.

In 2021, I worked with political leaders across the country to restrict critical race theory and other noxious, discriminatory ideologies from public schools in more than a dozen states, including Florida, where I worked with Governor Ron DeSantis on a number of education-related policies.

The following year, as part of its lawsuit against the State of Florida, the ACLU filed a subpoena against me, sending an agent to my home while I was eating dinner with my wife and children. But it was no ordinary subpoena, tightly limited to the case. The 18-page document requested all of my journalism, sources, materials, documents, and communications related not only to the Stop Woke Act but also to “critical race theory,” “BLM,” and “racial justice protests,” more generally—which would include all of my confidential journalistic sources.

In other words, the ACLU, which purports to protect civil rights and free speech, wanted to use its subpoena to brazenly violate my own First Amendment rights.

Since then, the ACLU has amplified its intimidation campaign, releasing smear pieces on its website and continuing threats to depose me. For the past two years, I have chosen to deal with the matter privately, but now, in the wake of another misleading attack on my character, I have decided to come forward. The public has a right to know that the ACLU has now fully revealed itself as the Anti-Civil Rights Union. Its commissars are using the organization’s reputation and stature to run propaganda against journalists who do not share their left-wing politics.

I want to make a statement directly to the ACLU’s lawyers: my office is open. Depose me anytime. But I won’t let you hide behind a Zoom screen. You will have to face me in person—in court, where I will expose your cynical game for the world to see.

To those of you who want to help me push back against this intimidation campaign and help cover legal costs, the best way to support my work is to become a paid subscriber to this newsletter.

Thank you!