Civil liberties: Arguments, Evidence and Where Politicians Stand

Free speech, privacy, surveillance, protest, policing and voting rights.

Overview

Civil liberties are the rights that protect individuals from government overreach: freedom of speech, the press and religion, privacy, due process, and the rights to protest and to vote.

Debates include how governments and platforms should handle misinformation and hate speech, surveillance, police powers, protest rules, drug laws, and how elections are run, including voter ID, proof-of-citizenship rules and redistricting.

The main sides

Test statements on this issue

• Political speech should be legally protected even when it is offensive.
• People should be free to criticize the government without fear of legal punishment.
• Peaceful protests should be permitted even when they seriously disrupt daily life.
• Hate speech should be a criminal offense.
• Social media companies should be legally required to remove misinformation.
• Government officials should be able to ask social media companies to take down posts they consider harmful.
• Broadcasters that air biased or false news should be able to lose their broadcast licenses.
• Burning the national flag as a protest should be illegal.
• The government should be able to monitor private communications to prevent crime.
• Police should need judicial approval before searching private digital communications.
• Public safety justifies broad government surveillance in public spaces.
• Governments should be able to require ID or age verification to access certain websites.
• Police should have broader powers to stop and search people in high-crime areas.
• Possessing drugs for personal use should not be a criminal offense.
• Governments should not be able to suspend basic rights during a declared emergency.
• Courts should strictly limit preventive detention without criminal charges.
• The government should limit how much money groups can spend on political advertising.
• Independent officials, not elected politicians, should run elections and draw voting districts.
• Foreign students should be deported for taking part in protests the government considers supportive of terrorism.

How ideologies line up

Average estimated answer of each ideology model to the statements above (−100 to +100).

Where 2026 candidates stand

• Abdul El-Sayed (D, Michigan Senate): Would end marijuana prohibition and tax and regulate it. source
• James Talarico (D, Texas Senate): Would legalize regulated marijuana for adults. source
• Amy Acton (D, Ohio Governor): Would respect voters' decision to legalize cannabis. source
• Vivek Ramaswamy (R, Ohio Governor): Supports federal marijuana legalization but voted against Ohio's 2023 legalization measure. source
• David Crowley (D, Wisconsin Governor): Would legalize medical and recreational marijuana. source
• Tom Tiffany (R, Wisconsin Governor): Would legalize medical marijuana for veterans and other patients, but not recreational use. source
• Rob Sand (D, Iowa Governor): Would legalize, regulate and tax adult-use cannabis like alcohol. source
• David Jolly (D, Florida Governor): Would enact any amendment that wins majority support, including recreational marijuana. source
• Byron Donalds (R, Florida Governor): Opposes recreational marijuana. source
• Cindy Holscher (D, Kansas Governor): Supports legalizing cannabis. source
• Ty Masterson (R, Kansas Governor): Opposes legalizing marijuana. source
• Ashley Moody (R, Florida Senate (special)): Opposed Florida's recreational marijuana ballot measure. source

Legislation

• S. 146: TAKE IT DOWN Act

Articles

• Immigration enforcement: record deportations and the fight over ICE tactics
• The redistricting wars and the Voting Rights Act ruling
• The fights over who votes and which ballots count
• The Supreme Court's new term: AR-15 bans, religious preschools and proof of citizenship

Open the interactive issue hub to see community discussions and compare with your own answers.