Free Speech Gets Some Protection In Germany

Americans have watched with bewilderment as European judges have shut down conservative social media platforms and imprisoned citizens for posting their opinions regarding social and political issues. Recently, a German court surprised the world by pushing back at  attempts by totalitarian leftist government officials to muzzle anti-government voices

Germany’s Federal Administrative Court is Germany’s supreme court for administrative law, handling disputes primarily between citizens and the state.

Compact magazine is a German publication that commented negatively on Germany’s open border policy which allowed mass immigration. A year ago, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, ordered the German Federal Police to raid the house of the publisher of Compact magazine. 

Faeser had the publication banned and scrubbed from the internet. This totalitarian action shocked Americans but was accepted by European leftist politicians. Fortunately, the matter was referred to the administrative court.

This past week, the German Federal Administrative Court lifted the Interior Minister’s ban on Compact magazine. Presiding Judge Ingo Kraft stated “the basic law guarantees freedom of expression and association even to its enemies.”

The judge also wrote: “Many of the anti-immigration statements cited by the defendant as evidence for the ban can therefore also be interpreted as exaggerated criticism of immigration policy, but ultimately permissible in light of fundamental rights of communication.”

This decision by the German court may be the first sign of European leaders recognizing that the population does not approve of the banning of speech that is disliked by the government or the bureaucrats.

The crackdown on free speech in Europe is what the Democrat Party under Biden attempted to implement in the United States. Let us hope that our Supreme Court continues to protect our right to free speech.