Kristine Frazao of Sinclair Broadcasting interviewed me for this clip, which ran on many broadcast stations from coast to coast, and also in this associated news article:

“In America, we’ve got First Amendment that controls what a government can do and by the same token it does not control what a newspaper can do, a radio station can do or what a social media platform can do,” said Walter Olson, a Senior Fellow at the Libertarian Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.

In other words, social media platforms are private companies, and can, therefore, choose how to label content. Still, there have been concerns raised about political bias among these independent fact-checkers, and others concerned that pushing things underground or offline may breathe new life into conspiracy theories.

“There has always been a strong argument that the way to refute bad ideas is to get them out there so people can shoot at them,” Olson said in an interview Monday. “Air them out, put some sunshine against them, it’s healthy against a virus too, and against the virus [of] a thought.”

Social media moderation and the First Amendment is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“When state law bans an at-home test for coronavirus before it’s even approved, maybe it’s time to be less aggressive.” My new Cato Podcast with Caleb Brown on how some states wound up pre-emptively banning one of the most convenient modes of testing. I wrote about the issue here.

Podcast on home COVID-19 tests is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I joined host Newel Normand to talk federalism, the Constitution and the pandemic on New Orleans’s WWL on Thursday. You can listen here.

On the radio in New Orleans is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

You can watch yesterday’s Cato online panel on COVID-19 and the Constitution with Ilya Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, and me.

Also at Cato, my latest Pandemics and Power notebook is on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s scheme to draft health care professionals nationwide, feds’ seizures of medical equipment, any excuse to ban vaping, and a scene from the life of a great vaccinologist. And while we’re at it, here’s Deirdre McCloskey with some relevant thoughts: “Coronavirus must not rob us of our liberties forever.”

A panel on the Constitution, and a second pandemic notebook installment is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern: the novel coronavirus and the Constitution is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Constitutional law roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Their description:

On a special bonus episode of the Conduit Street Podcast, Walter Olson joins Kevin Kinnally and Michael Sanderson to examine the role of state and local emergency powers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walter Olson is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies. a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. A resident of Frederick County, Olson recently served on the Frederick County Charter Review Commission. Olson has also served as the co-chair of [the Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission, created in] 2015.

MACo has made the podcast available through both iTunes and Google Play Music by searching Conduit Street Podcast. You can also listen on our Conduit Street blog with a recap and link to the podcast.

You can listen to previous episodes of the Conduit Street Podcast on our website.

You can listen and download here (40:04). [cross-posted from Free State Notes] Related: Nashville radio host Brian Wilson did an extended riff on my Wall Street Journal op-ed on federalism and the virus emergency; you can listen here. And I appeared on screen as a source for a Sinclair Broadcasting TV report (see 1:45+).

Podcast guest: liberty and the Constitution in a time of pandemic is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren wants to break up big tech firms and impose new regulation on firms with high revenues. Walter Olson discusses what that might look like in practice.” I join Caleb Brown for a Cato podcast on themes outlined in this space last week. Related: Geoffrey Manne and Alec Stapp last March on Warren’s plans for tech and antitrust (“To Warren, our most dynamic and innovative companies constitute a problem that needs solving.”)

Bonus: earlier posts on Warren and her economic plans including white-collar prosecution, exit tax, regulation of private equity, and corporate governance first, second, third posts as well as political spending and labor co-determination.

Talking Warren’s big antitrust plans is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Climate change roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

I joined the Lars Larson Show on Tuesday to talk about the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing a suit against Remington over the Sandy Hook massacre to proceed for now [earlier]. The current suit, as green-lighted by the Connecticut Supreme Court earlier this year over a dissent from three of its seven justices, claims that Remington violated the broad provisions on deceptive marketing of a state consumer protection law, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). It should be emphasized that the case is still at an early stage and that the Justices will probably be presented with further opportunities to pronounce on its compatibility with the federal law that pre-empts most gun suits, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

I’ve got a new post up at Cato at Liberty taking a more extended look at the ruling and what lies ahead for gunmaker litigation.

SCOTUS declines to intervene in Sandy Hook gunmaker case for now is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system