Government’s Cancel Culture Efforts to Censor, Ostracize & Shun Politically Unpopular Viewpoints on the Rise

John W. Whitehead
3 min readJan 19, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Rutherford Institute is warning against a growing cancel culture mindset within government agencies across the political spectrum that seeks to censor, ostracize and shun those with opposing, disfavored, or politically unpopular viewpoints.

Weighing in before the U.S. Supreme Court with an amicus brief in NRA of Am. v. Vullo, The Rutherford Institute, FIRE, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association are challenging efforts by a New York state regulator to circumvent the First Amendment and indirectly penalize the National Rifle Association by pressuring regulated insurance companies to disassociate from and stop offering certain services to the pro-gun advocacy group.

“Knowing what we know about the government’s tendency to attach its own labels to behavior and speech that challenges its authority, these efforts to ostracize those with politically unpopular viewpoints should be cause for alarm across the entire political spectrum,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “Whatever government-driven censorship we tolerate now are destined to serve as the…

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John W. Whitehead

Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, is one of the nation’s leading advocates of civil liberties and human rights.