WASHINGTON - s4story -- A bill passed in Virginia would force teachers to lie to children by telling them that what occurred on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol was an "insurrection," even though that legal conclusion was never seriously suggested, much less legally established.  Indeed, no person who participated in that event has ever even been changed with - much less convicted of - "insurrection," which, under 18 U.S.C. §2383, is a federal crime with a clear legal definition, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

Because it would require people to make statements with which they may not agree or wish to support, any such law would seem to be a clear violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's well established compelled speech doctrine which provides that, with only very narrow exceptions, the First Amendment protects both the right to speak and the equally important right to refrain from speaking, especially with regard to  ideological or expressive messages.

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Moreover, if legislatures could force teachers to tell children things which are not true, the logical next step might be to mandate teaching that there are six different sexes (as Democratic Senate candidate James Talarciohas has proclaimed), that a major pedophile ring operated out of a pizza shop in D.C., that nobody ever landed on the moon, and perhaps even that Elvis Presley is alive, argues Professor Banzhaf, who has won several First Amendment cases, including one involving compelled speech.

The First Amendment's compelled speech doctrine - with only narrow exceptions - prohibits the government from forcing individuals to make statements with which they disagree.

A seminal case was Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that a right-of-reply law for newspapers was unconstitutional as compelled speech.  . . .

The Virginia bill requires teachers to tell children that what happened on January 6, 2021 constituted an "insurrection."  But if Virginia can mandate this misrepresentation, it presumably could also require teachers to say that:

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■ there are six different sexes
■ that a pizzeria in D.C. served as a front for a child sex trafficking and pedophilia ring
■ nobody has even landed on the moon, and any depictions of such a visit are fakes
■ the famous singer, Elvis Presley, is alive.

Aside from policy arguments about the extent to which governments can and should be able to affect the extent certain matters are taught - e.g. the role race played in various historical events - forcing teachers to state as a fact that "911" constituted an insurrection would seem to be clearly invalid under the Supreme Court's compelled speech doctrine.

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