Robyn E. Blumner

About the author: Robyn E. Blumner is a columnist and editorial writer for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida and a former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

The American government has a long history of suppressing free speech during wartime, including the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were laws passed in 1798 that prohibited writing or publishing anything false or malicious about the government. Although the government has not passed a similar law in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrrorist attack, newspaper editors have been too quick to support speech suppression and the loss of other civil liberties. The mainstream press should oppose efforts to weaken civil liberties and work with the court system and political activists to ensure that the United States does not retreat...