(Tampa Free Press)—The Liberty Justice Center is taking action to protect free speech in the workplace. On October 30th, the organization filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against Illinois’ recently enacted Senate Bill 3649 (SB 3649), which restricts employer speech on religious and political matters.
The lawsuit, filed in August, argues that SB 3649 violates the First Amendment rights of employers by prohibiting discussions of “religious or political matters” in mandatory meetings, even when those matters are relevant to the organization’s operations or employees’ work.
The law would impose hefty fines for any such discussions.
The Liberty Justice Center is seeking to halt the enforcement of SB 3649 before it takes effect on January 1st, 2025.
The Technology & Manufacturing Association (TMA), representing nearly 1,000 small and midsize manufacturing businesses in Illinois, has joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff. The TMA is challenging SB 3649 on behalf of its members, who are concerned about the law’s impact on their ability to communicate with employees.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that content-based restrictions on speech—restrictions that apply to certain speech based on its topic, idea, or message—presumptively violate the First Amendment. Yet the state of Illinois has attempted to ban employer speech based solely on its content: speech that is political or religious,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “The court should prevent this unconstitutional law from going into effect.”
The lawsuit, Illinois Policy Institute v. Flanagan, is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.