A landmark settlement delivered a blow to the censorship industrial complex that silenced Americans during the COVID era.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) announced Tuesday that Missouri had reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. government in its Missouri v. Biden lawsuit, which accused the Biden administration of violating Americans' First Amendment rights by directing social media companies to censor speech challenging the government's COVID messaging.
'For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours.'
Schmitt filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration while serving as Missouri attorney general, before securing his Senate seat.
The agreement included a 10-year Consent Decree that enforces a narrow permanent injunction on the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The injunction prevents them from threatening social media companies with any form of punishment if those companies fail to remove or suppress content that contains protected speech.
However, this ban applies only to posts made on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube by the specific plaintiffs in the case, including Missouri and Louisiana government officials and agencies acting in their official capacity. It does not extend to other social media networks or content posted by the general public.
"The Parties also agree that government, politicians, media, academics, or anyone else applying labels such as 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' or 'malinformation' to speech does not render it constitutionally unprotected," the agreement reads.
The court must first approve this settlement agreement.
"We just won Missouri v. Biden," Schmitt wrote in a post on X. "As Missouri's Attorney General, I sued the Biden regime for brazenly colluding with Big Tech to silence Missouri families — censoring the truth about COVID, the Hunter Biden laptop, the open border, and the 2020 election. They tried to turn Facebook, X, YouTube, and the rest into their private speech police, labeling dissent 'misinformation' while they pushed their narrative on the American people."
Schmitt called the Consent Decree the "first real, operational restraint on the federal censorship machine."
He explained that it "directly binds the Surgeon General, the CDC, and CISA: no more threats of legal, regulatory, or economic punishment. No more coercion. No more unilateral direction or veto of platform decisions to remove, suppress, deplatform, or algorithmically bury protected speech."
"For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours. The heartland fought back, and the heartland delivered," Schmitt concluded.
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Benjamin Weingarten, a senior contributor at the Federalist, addressed the victory's narrow application.
"This decree is limited to the plaintiffs, but as precedent, and practically, its impact may prove orders of magnitude more powerful in protecting disfavored speech," Weingarten wrote, calling it "a momentous blow for the First Amendment."
National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, who had to withdraw as a plaintiff in the case after being appointed by the Trump administration, called the settlement "a huge win for all Americans."
"Huzzah! The consent decree in Missouri v. Biden is a historic victory for free speech in the US. Though I had to switch to the government side in the case after I became NIH director, I've never been more pleased by 'losing' in my life," he wrote.
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Anyone who watched the recent World Baseball Classic final in Miami — a thrilling matchup between the underdog Venezuelans and Team USA — saw a vivid display of national pride.
Before the game, both teams stood for the Venezuelan and American national anthems. Miami is home to the world’s largest Venezuelan diaspora community. The cheers were thunderous. Every Venezuelan player stood with his cap over his heart and sang every word with conviction. This from a nation scarred by decades of unrest, corruption, and more recently, liberation at the hands of U.S. troops sent by President Donald Trump. Through all that turmoil, they held fast to love of country. “It means everything. This is for our country,” starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez said afterward through tears.
A nation cannot survive on procedure alone. It needs loyalty, memory, gratitude, and a shared sense of belonging.
The contrast with the American team was hard to miss. Our players all looked stoic. No one sang. I wondered if they even knew the words.
That scene unfolded as the U.S. Senate debated the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID at the polls. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) framed the matter correctly. “Our republic was founded on a daring claim that free people could govern itself. Not that a free people could drift forever,” he said.
“Liberty is fragile and so it requires structure.”
America’s founders would have understood the point.
In his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington urged Americans not only to respect the law but to love their country. “Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections,” he said. “The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism.”
Benjamin Franklin believed immigrants should assimilate, learn the language, and adopt American customs if they wished to become good citizens. Thomas Jefferson tied citizenship to literacy, civic formation, and military readiness. “Every citizen should be a soldier,” he wrote. “This was the case with the Greeks and Romans and must be that of every free state.”
The SAVE Act may never reach President Trump’s desk. Common sense rarely enjoys smooth passage in Washington. But Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has at least shown some backbone. “We’re going to stay on this bill until it damn well passes,” he said, even if that means “many, many weeks” of debate.
If the MAGA base roars loudly enough, maybe it will.
But the deeper problem runs beyond election law. It concerns whether Americans still understand citizenship as something more than legal status. A nation cannot survive on procedure alone. It needs loyalty, memory, gratitude, and a shared sense of belonging.
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That is why the contrast on display in Miami matters. The Venezuelans played as men who still believed their country — mess that it may be — deserved their love. Too many Americans now act embarrassed by their own inheritance.
If we do not protect our elections from illegal votes, we weaken our sovereignty. If we do not insist that new citizens learn English, we weaken national cohesion. If we cannot teach our children to love their country, sing its anthem, and thank God for its blessings, we will hand the nation to elites whose only loyalty is to appetite, profit, and power.
I saw the alternative recently at a Hillsdale College seminar. Before each meal, a student led us in prayer. Then we stood together and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. I had not spoken those words aloud in years. The moment carried real force — 800 voices joined in gratitude, memory, and common purpose. It reminded me that patriotism is not an abstraction. It is a habit.
We should bring the pledge back to schools. We should teach the Bible again. We should teach Western history and literature without apology. We should make English the official language of the United States.
After Venezuela beat Italy in the semifinals, President Trump posted on Truth Social, “Wow ... statehood #51 anyone?” He understood something larger in the moment. America does not need another state. It needs more citizens with that kind of spirit.
These are the questions I explore in my new novel, “Trump’s Superpower: A Historical Novel About the Founding Fathers and One Founding Mother,” out in May. In it, the founders return for America’s 250th anniversary and confront what we have done with the republic they risked their lives to build.
Whether we still deserve it may depend on whether we are still willing to sing for it.
Republican Rep. August Pfluger of Texas is leading a bipartisan charge to combat the rise of nitazenes, a class of illicit drugs that could be deadlier than fentanyl, Blaze News has learned.
Pfluger introduced the House version of the DETECT Nitazenes Act Thursday alongside Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia. The bipartisan and bicameral legislation would direct resources from the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate and the Drug Enforcement Administration to enhance technologies to detect illicit drugs like nitazenes at extremely low concentrations, according to bill text obtained exclusively by Blaze News.
'These deadly drugs are taking American lives.'
"Nitazenes are an emerging class of illicit drugs that pose a serious threat to Americans' health and safety, yet today, these deadly drugs have not received the level of attention necessary to combat them," Pfluger told Blaze News. "The DETECT Nitazenes Act will close critical gaps in detection capabilities, support law enforcement efforts, and improve public safety outcomes by enabling faster and more accurate identification of these deadly substances."
"As the risk from synthetic drugs continues to evolve, this legislation ensures that we remain prepared to respond to the next generation of deadly narcotics and protect our communities," he continued.
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Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, who is leading the companion bill in the Senate, demonstrated just how destructive nitazenes can be, urging Congress to take swift action.
"Nitazenes are powerful synthetic opioids that are stronger than fentanyl, cheaper to produce, and devastatingly lethal," Schmitt told Blaze News. "These deadly drugs are taking American lives, and we must get smart on them before they devastate communities across Missouri and the nation."
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Schmitt added, "I was proud to introduce the DETECT Nitazenes Act in the Senate and am encouraged to see my colleagues introduce it in the House. I urge both the House and the Senate to take up this critical bill to help tackle this crisis before nitazenes get out of control."
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