This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Tuesday, January 11th, 2022. I'm Caleb Brown. You hear it every time someone

wants to justify squelching speech, you can't shout fire in a crowded theater.

It's a bit of a catch-all phrase, overused and broadly misunderstood.

Jeff Kossiff is an associate professor of cybersecurity law at the United States Naval Academy. We discussed the rhetoric surrounding

current efforts to muzzle speech.

I should just say that I'm speaking only on my own behalf and not on behalf of the Naval

Academy, the Navy, or DOD.

These days it's used to justify just about anything.

I've actually seen it repeatedly.

I have Google News Alert for Fire in a crowded theater, which is one of the more stressful

Google News Alerts because I get to see in real time what they used to justify it.

They, it even justifies things beyond speech regulations.

People argue that vaccine mandates, which depending on the form I agree with, they say, well, we can mandate vaccines because you can't yell fire in a crowded theater, which is very convoluted for a number of reasons. in the speech arena it's used to still

regarding health to say well if someone questions COVID precautions masking or questions,

masking, or the efficacy of vaccines,

that should be illegal, and we can make it illegal

because you can't yell fire in a crowded theater.

Election misinformation, which obviously... you can't yell fire in a crowded theater.

Election misinformation, which obviously is a substantial concern,

people say, well, you shouldn't be able to question election results because of fire and a crowded theater.

You shouldn't be able to give a portrayal of the January 6th insurrectionists because fire in a crowded theater.

You shouldn't be allowed to have hate speech because fire in a crowded theater.

...