Center for American Liberty Scores 1A Victory for Rhode Island Mom

Center for American Liberty Scores 1A Victory for Rhode Island Mom

Government officials may not censor speech, on their official government social media pages, merely because they disagree with the viewpoint expressed. This is the lessoned being learned by former Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

The case began when Nicole Solas, a mother of two from South Kingstown, Rhode Island, sought transparency in her child’s kindergarten curriculum. After requesting access to public records, Nicole discovered shocking roadblocks, including $74,000 in fees and a lawsuit filed by the teachers’ union to prevent her from obtaining the information. Undeterred, Nicole exposed disturbing content in public school classrooms, including graphic materials she believed were unsuitable for young children.

When then-Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona posted on X (formerly Twitter) condemning conservative parents’ efforts to “censor” books, Nicole exercised her First Amendment rights by replying with images from the controversial book Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. These images, depicting explicit sexual content involving teenagers, were publicly available in some school libraries. Within minutes, Secretary Cardona used X’s “hide” function to block Nicole’s replies from public view—a move the Center for American Liberty argued violated her constitutional right to free speech.

The parties have now settled Nicole’s case resulting in a significant victory for Nicole and Americans everywhere. Now, as a result of the settlement, Nicole’s once “hidden” posts will be made public and moving forward, the Department of Education will create an administrative review process whereby Americans can challenge any suppression of their responses on DOE social media without having to hire a lawyer or file a lawsuit.

In light of this victory, Nicole Solas stated—

“Parents protecting children from pornography in public school will not be unconstitutionally censored by powerful ‘educrats’ like Miguel Cardona in the Department of Education. “I’m pleased I could teach our former Education Secretary one final lesson about American education – your political agenda will never be greater than the voices of parents advocating for their children’s education, and censoring our voices on social media will always backfire. Thanks to my settlement, parents can more easily fight government censorship online by filing administrative complaints instead of expensive lawsuits. We are all media outlets on social media, and one day our children will hear the echoes of our voices fighting for their education freedom and freedom of speech. Don’t give up.”

Center for American Liberty Scores 1A Victory for Rhode Island Mom