This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

I'm Caleb Brown.

A federal judge recently found that a Facebook like, at least in the context of a political race, he is not protected speech under the First Amendment.

That even that ambiguous gesture on Facebook is an expression, and it should receive the highest First Amendment protection.

So says Trevor Burris, a legal associate at the case. should receive the highest First Amendment protection.

So says Trevor Burris, a legal associate at the Cato Institute.

A federal district judge in Virginia has ruled that a Facebook like does not receive

First Amendment protection.

The case arose out of an election over a sheriff or a new sheriff position.

And after the current sheriff was reelected, six people were fired, and at least two of them

claimed that one of the reason they were filed is because they liked the

sheriff's opponent on Facebook.

And so they were claiming that there was a retaliation there,

and it was protected by the First Amendment.

This was a kind of political speech that was protected by the First Amendment.

And the judge said, nope, sorry, it's not protected by the First Amendment. And the judge said, nope, sorry, it's not protected by the First Amendment.

There are all sorts of things that we can do that are treated as protected speech,

burning an American flag, for example, where, you know,

was an 8 to 1 Supreme Court that said, look, this is expression, it's therefore speech,

and therefore it receives this high level of protection, things that we write, and in many cases checks that

we write to support certain causes are interpreted as well as speech.

This is a technological innovation.

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