Wyoming U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis has made national headlines for reportedly changing the way she feels about freedom of speech, but her office disputes that characterization.
“Under normal times, in normal circumstances, I tend to think that the First Amendment should always be sort of the ultimate right. And that there should be almost no checks and balances on it. I don’t feel that way anymore,” Lummis told Semafor, a digital news site, last week.
The senator’s comments followed the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s TV show after the late-night comedian commented on Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin. Disney, ABC’s parent company, removed Kimmel from the air after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr publicly threatened investigations and regulatory action.
Ahead of ABC’s Monday announcement that Kimmel would return to the air this week, Lummis weighed in, telling Semafor that “an FCC license, it’s not a right. It really is a privilege.”
Like many members of the GOP, Lummis has often championed free speech.
“There are no ifs, ands or buts about the First Amendment and it is time for @POTUS and unelected bureaucrats in D.C. to abide by the Constitution,” Lummis posted on X on July 25, 2023.
At the time, she and Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced the Free Speech Protection Act, “to prohibit federal employees and contractors from directing platforms to censor any speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” according to the bill text.
The legislation was in response to a lawsuit brought by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri against the Biden administration. The federal government carried out a far-reaching censorship campaign, according to the complaint, in its efforts to convince social media companies to address postings related to COVID-19. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the case.
“I take the protection of the privacy and individual liberties of the people of Wyoming extremely serious,” Lummis wrote in a July 21, 2023 press release. “If we let the Biden administration restrict our freedom of speech, there is no telling what other sacred freedoms they will come for next.”
Circumstances have changed, Lummis told Semafor last week.
“I feel like something’s changed culturally. And I think that there needs to be some cognizance that things have changed,” Lummis said. “We just can’t let people call each other those kinds of insane things and then be surprised when politicians get shot and the death threats they are receiving and then trying to get extra money for security.”
Asked to provide more of an explanation as to what caused Lummis to change her position on the First Amendment, Joe Jackson, a spokesman for the senator, asked WyoFile to print the following statement in full.
“Senator Lummis’s position hasn’t shifted at all. She remains among Congress’ most vocal First Amendment champions. The First Amendment applies to federal and state governments and does not prevent private companies from firing employees who endorse and cheer political assassinations. The Left enthusiastically supported Biden’s censorship regime and stayed quiet when Democrats branded their rivals as Nazis. But when Senator Lummis criticizes Democrats for their inflammatory rhetoric that promotes violence, they suddenly act like they care about free speech. This double standard is precisely why nobody believes them,” the statement read.
In a follow-up, WyoFile asked if Lummis could clarify what she meant by “I don’t feel that way anymore” in her comments to Semafor. “Her point was we can’t normalize speech that incites this level of violence,” Jackson responded.
The “insane things” people say and call each other are protected by the First Amendment, Jackson wrote.
“However, we must recognize the drastic consequences and violence from the Left its resulting in. In this case, the murder of a young husband and father,” Jackson wrote. “The media is working overtime to try and mischaracterize her comments instead of focusing on the real issue: leftwing political violence.”
Some GOP senators, however, have raised concerns about FCC pressure on ABC, including Sen. Paul, the co-sponsor with Lummis on the Free Speech Protection Act. He told Meet the Press on Sunday that Carr had “no business weighing in on this.”
While people could get fired for making “despicable comments,” Paul said, the government should not pressure companies to take action.
“The government’s got no business in it. And the FCC was wrong to weigh in. And I’ll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech,” Paul said.
On his podcast Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he was “thrilled” to see Kimmel’s show taken off the air, but called Carr’s actions “dangerous as hell.”
Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which has oversight authority over the FCC, said it “will end up bad for conservatives.”
“They will silence us,” he said. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly.”
Her reply when I asked her about Brian Kilmeade and what he said regarding the homeless vs Jimmy Kimmel: Canned reply ——-
Thank you for contacting me about the First Amendment.
I am an unwavering defender of the U.S. Constitution and all the liberties it protects, including the First Amendment. My position on this fundamental right has not changed, and I remain among Congress’s most vocal champions of free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition our government.
Throughout my time in Congress, I have consistently looked to our founding documents and our Constitution for guidance in my work, and I will continue to fight any efforts by the federal or state governments to stifle the free speech rights of Americans.
It’s important to understand that the First Amendment protects citizens from government censorship—it applies to federal and state governments and prevents them from restricting speech and has never applied to private businesses.
While I will always defend every American’s constitutional right to free speech, I also believe we must distinguish between protecting constitutional rights and condoning rhetoric that promotes or celebrates political violence. We can and must do both—defend the First Amendment while also calling out dangerous rhetoric that threatens the safety of our democratic process.
Please be assured that I will continue to advocate for freedom of speech and protect our fundamental rights as United States citizens, while also defending all our civil liberties as laid out in our country’s founding documents.
As always, I welcome the opportunity to communicate with you regarding issues impacting Wyoming. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if I can ever be of assistance.
Kind regards,
My recent letter to:
Dear Senator Lummis,
As a lifelong Wyoming citizen, I feel compelled to share my deep concern with your recent comments regarding the First Amendment. With respect, I believe your words do not reflect the thinking of the people of Wyoming, who value individual liberties and hold the freedom of speech as one of our most sacred rights.
For over five decades, beginning in 1969, I have been entrusted with managing some of Wyoming’s most influential radio and television stations. My professional life has been dedicated to keeping our citizens informed, holding power accountable, and carrying the mantle of Free Speech, a responsibility I continue to honor even in my semi-retirement. That is why I was troubled to hear you suggest you no longer view the First Amendment as “the ultimate right.”
While I understand the pain and anger that accompany violent rhetoric or political violence, the Constitution does not protect us from being offended. It protects speech precisely because it is sometimes offensive, unpopular, or upsetting. If we begin to carve out exceptions, we open the door to censorship by whichever party is in power. That is not Wyoming common sense. That is not the rugged individualism or liberty that our citizens hold dear.
Please continue to stand firmly and consistently with the First Amendment, without compromise or political shading. Wyoming people expect nothing less from those we send to Washington.
Respectfully,
Robert D. Price
Casper, Wyoming
Wow, as our country descends into an Autocracy, she defends its decline. The Republican Party and their self-imposed King must scare the hell out of their pawns. I’d love to know why party and president loyalty supersedes their oath to the constitution – but then that might require free speech to get away with it.
Loomis has a bad case of oopsies! Clearly what she means is what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. Free speech for me but NOT for thee! Sadly it doesn’t matter what she says, there will be no accountability.
Thank you Maggie Mullen- keep keeping us informed as these elected officials seem hell bent to destroy our republic and destroy our first 10 amendment rights – Guess I’m Lummis’ world it is ok For Trump To Lie Daily – all across the country, but any truth telling is to
Be outlawed!!??
My neighbor(s) there is the FIRST AMENDMENT and then there is using the First Amendment to camouflage SEDITION and SEDITIOUS action(tivity/s) which are punishable by LAW BUT I also would ask if the latter is used for sanitization of a REPUBLIC to enable a FULL DEMOCRACY to entrench these United States of America:
What would that really, seriously look like?
How would that logistics affect “We the people”?
Could there be a possibility that even some of the actors have no idea that they are being used as props for this activity?
The only reason I asked these questions is because what are/is the alleged charges/indictments on Comey, they seemed very elaborate and coming from as close to the very top of that particular “food chain”…?
I truly believe the FIRST AMENDMENT was to me/us the top of the “power whip” to maintain control because the further down the whip the pain and misery becomes very painful and DEADLY.
The only way to desensitize the First Amendment is to camouflage SEDITION/SEDITIOUS logistics is to incorporate it under “FREE SPEECH” and use the FIRST AMENDMENT as the DEFENSE for such seditious activities and the proof of this SEDITION accomplishments is a homosapien momentum towards violence and ultimately violence as we are recognizing on and within this REPUBLIC’S PEOPLE.
Thank you WYOFILE for your courage encouragement and EXAMPLE of exercising our FIRST AMENDMENT, be SAFE, SEMPER FI!
Scum, filth, vermin, radicals, communists, posionous, garbage, rats, and many more. These are just some of the descriptors President Stable Genius has used to describe the people he hates so they must be government approved words. Please follow our leader’s example when describing your opponents.
Does any single or all those words together add up to the psychological weight of the word NAZI?
No I don’t think so, and the other half of the country has been labeled as such by the opposition.
All of you people are completely ignoring your ability to think independently of your partisan programming.
Why is being a Nazi a bad word to use for those on the Trump train? After all, he said there were “some very fine people on both sides” in Charlottesville.
I am in no way a Trump supporter, but I wont buy into lies about him either.
Left leaning snopes even calls false the immortal never dying falsehood about the “very fine people” comment.
You call Trump a suspected pedophile and I will wholeheartedly agree with you.
Chad
Regarding the “very fine people” comment, it was filmed and on the news channels. You can check the archives. Some things are facts and they really are real.
As has been said, you can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts.
OK Chad, just for you, Trump is a suspected pedophile.
From the actual Snopes discussion:
Editors’ Note: Some readers have raised the objection that this fact check appears to assume Trump was correct in stating that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville incident. That is not the case. This fact check aimed to confirm what Trump actually said, not whether what he said was true or false. For the record, virtually every source that covered the Unite the Right debacle concluded that it was conceived of, led by and attended by white supremacists, and that therefore Trump’s characterization was wrong.
When the shoe fits…
I’m guessing that extremist leftwingers are responsible for her eagerness to sell public lands too.
The Orangutan in Chief, along with sellouts such as Lummis, long for 1933’esc Nazi Germany. Silence the critics and keep chugging away at the Fascism
I don’t believe that you really know what Fascism is.. Has anyone been rounded up because of their religion or political beliefs and been put in gas chambers? Funny how the “antifascist” Antifa has killed and looted stores and broken windows just like in Germany’s SS and SA and Hitler youth on “Kristallnacht” in November 1938.
We should all just go for a hike in the mountains. Look at those colors!
Great advice Bill!
With all of the chaos going on in this country over the last nine months we could all use a break.
“…Jackson wrote. “The media is working overtime to try and mischaracterize her comments instead of focusing on the real issue: leftwing political violence.”…”
Maybe it’s time for someone to inform Mr. Jackson that the “real issue” here is Lummis’ failure to uphold the oath of office she took to protect and defend the constitution of the United States.
So she was for free speech before she was against it?
So the gun control party is encouraging people to use guns?
These people have no shame. None. “I feel like something’s changed, culturally.” Yeah. Something has changed. Your guy is in power now. This garbage was unconstitutional under Biden, and it is unconstitutional now. Let’s be honest, though. This is more about mergers, consolidation of power and rich people getting richer than it is about Kimmel.
Have we, as Americans, forgotten what “being an American” means? What about loyalty to the Constitution? I remember back to watching the riot at the Capitol unfold on January 6. I felt sick to my stomach for days afterwards trying to understand how Americans could do such things. Am I the only person who thinks that way? I guess Comgresswoman Hageman will tell us how to think when the new Jan 6 committee with her on it gets going. It saddens me every day to see what our country has become.
Good reporting, Maggie. Thanks.
I feel sorry for Senator Lummis. She is definitely not the same person I knew from when she was first elected to the Wyoming Legislature. That person was thoughtful and smart, this version is neither. Courage it seems is a rare commodity any more, I guess if you are afraid of holding true to your own words that is a sure sign you no longer have it.
In 1933 Germany passed a law making it illegal to mock or disparage the government. Clearly at the top of Trump and companies play list.
One thing that should happen is when a politician lies to the public, they should be removed. That would take care of Lummis, Pinocchio, and Hageman.
Actually, I suspect removing anyone who lies would pretty much empty DC.
Marion, I don’t often agree with your postings, but this one was spot on!
This is what the late Senator Alan Simpson would have described as “horse puckey.”
Ride for the brand, Senator Lummis – and the brand is the Constitution that you took an oath to uphold.
I recall when Mr. Pelosi was attacked by a right wing nut with a hammer Trump came to his defense, saying he was running away from Mr. Pelosi and jumped out the window like it was a homosexual meeting and making fun of it. Trump did not call for the death penalty for that attacker. There was a high school shooting the same day in Colorado. The shootings are very common in this country, a moment of silence for each victim and wait for the next shooting, and there will be one and another one.
Lummis is a Trump puppet. There is no CURE for them, except to rid ourselves of them. VOTE her and her ilk out!!!!
We should be extremely alarmed that the University of Wyoming College of Law has been failing for this long to provide basic quality education, particularly it seems in Constitutional Law.
The hypocrisy here is maddening.. first Kimmel never said bad things about Mr. Kirks assassination only how despicable resorting to violence has become in the US..
His comment about how the ultra right seems to be trying to capitalize his murder for political shutdown of speech that was not hateful… a march toward any opposition to criticism of a would be dictator..
NO half staff for Minnesota congresswoman.. and a half staff for a man who said LGBTQ rights are a threat to America divisive and mean? you bet
She believes what Trump tells her to believe.
Ms. Lummis couldn’t find a spine in the Paris Catacombs.
That’s because she is a neo-Fascist.
It really isn’t accurate or fair to call her a neo-Fascist. That would imply that she has the courage and backbone to take a position of her own on any issue. That has never been the case. Whether it was the Stockgrowers, Oil and Gas or Trump she has always taken whatever position she was told to take. Her staff is no different or they wouldn’t be there.
Down is up and up is down. Courage and moral compass Senator Lummis? Oh no, I don’t have either she says.
How is it that the left is painted as the violent party? All of the things they say about what the left is doing is right out of their very own 2025 playbook.
How about when Melissa and Mark Hortman were politically assasinated in their home and Senator Mike Lee made fun of them? Disgusting? Any word of sorrow then? Flags at half mast?
We are not the violent party but it might come to that because the right is determined to destroy everything we care about.
Lummis, like most politicians, is a hypocrite. Her and her staff essentially promote “free speech for me and people I agree with but NOT for thee or those I disagree with.”
If Lummis is truly concerned about inflammatory rhetoric, she should look to Trump who has engaged in it far more to stoke anger, fear and hostility than anyone else.
It is abundantly clear that the entire Wyoming federal congressional delegation is comprised of tRUMP sheeple sycophantic shills!
Lummis and Jackson think we’re idiots who can’t read what she actually said.
How is it only the left that is cranking up the offensive language? Trump has called the Democrats; communist, socialist, fascist, scum, terrible people, sick people, who hate our country and want to destroy it. How about the violence of January 6th? Who is responsible for whipping up that little get-together? He has since said he will use government assets and agencies to destroy the left. Steven Miller is even more provocative in his declarations. Kimmel said that the MAGA crowd is desperately trying to prove the shooter isn’t one of them. Yeah, it’s the left that needs reigning in alright.
Lummis hasn’t changed her position at all, it’s just that right now the wind has changed, and she thinks she can make some political hay by moving the goalposts.
Totally agree! And what about the shooting in Minnesota of the democrat congresswoman and her husband by a right wing nut job? How quickly they forget that many of them came out and said awful things about that? He and his followers are turning us against each other- that is their goal.
Bingo. Not to mention, dumpf literally said AT THE C. KIRK MEMORIAL that dumpf hates his opponents and wants the worst for them.
“Rules for thee, not for me”
Yes, President Trumps comment was “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry.” . Hate is a strong word……especially when it’s directed at another human being. People need to disconnect from social media, media needs to remember that it reports facts, not innuendos or opinion, unless stated as such. We need strong leadership from an individual who is not filled with hate and vindictive every time someone disagrees with him. I feel like American has lost it’s way, and I fear that we will never find the right path back.
Per the headline, she doesn’t.
Lol, these “people” absolutely disgusting.
Human RIGHTS do not change with “the times” they are merely restricted by authoritarians that blame “the times” for their despotism.
Now watch all the opposition pull their hair out, when they applauded the same tyranny when their side held control.
In the words of Kimmel himself (speaking of abc dropping Rosanne Barr over a tweet). “I’m not a fan of censorship, but this wasn’t about free speech … it was about consequences for saying something vile.”
Kettle. Pot. Black. Goose. Gander. #Freedomofspeechformenotthee
What specifically did Kimmel say that was vile?
While there is plenty of hypocrisy to go around, the problem with your argument is that he never wrote that, the memes are fake, easily debunked with a few moments of research.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jimmy-kimmel-roseanne-barr/
further proof that facebook educated folks aren’t to be taken serious.
mr. craig should get off facebook and turn the tv off
I imagine it’s hard work managing the spaces of kowtowing to a narcissistic autocrat and representing the real people of Wyoming…where you grew up and became who you are. Here’s to a successful reconciliation and return to Wyoming values.
Remember all this rhetoric from our MAGA Legislators when you go to the poles. They are taking our rights away daily! Appalling, spineless!!!!!!
Specifically what rights are they taking away? What will the impact be?