The expansive version of free speech long accepted in American society is facing more forceful competition than it has seen in a century.

The University of California, Berkeley’s law school on Thursday joined the law programs at Harvard and Yale in pulling out of U.S. News & World Report’s rankings over concerns that they punish efforts to attract students from a broad range of backgrounds.

University of California regents on Thursday approved a multiyear plan to raise tuition and fees at one of the nation’s premier public university systems.

____WHAT IS THE HATCH ACT? Theres so much chatter about the Hatch Act that retired Sen. Orrin Hatch tweeted Wednesday, Friends, I am not in charge of the Hatch Act please stop calling.Former Sen. Carl Hatch, D-N.M., wrote the legislation in 1939 to limit partisan activity by federal employees to ensure the government functions fairly and effectively. ___SHOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE HATCH ACT? If youre trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, its not going to work, she said in May 2019. What you see now is President Trump behaving more and more like an authoritarian leader, not a democratically elected leader.

A religious freedom law firm with ties to President Donald Trump says it will sue California over its recent ban on singing or chanting in the church to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. Crossroads Community Church Senior Pastor Jim Clark wants to keep his 1,500 parishioners safe during the coronavirus pandemic but he's drawing the line at a new California ban on singing or chanting at religious services. ... We dont chant, but if we did chant, wed be chanting too.The California ban was one of a number of restrictions on indoor businesses and gatherings put in place last week by Gov. About 200 state inspectors fanned out over the long Independence Day to check businesses for violations of new state health orders. But Greg Burt, spokesman for the conservative California Family Council, said he'd heard of no effort to enforce the singing ban during the first weekend it applied.

The House rules change tries to strike a balance between working from home during the coronavirus outbreak and honoring the Constitutions requirement to be present and voting. Twenty Republicans joined the lawsuit against the move, which House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California says is unconstitutional. Republicans declined to participate, but dozens of Democrats many from California and other Western states submitted formal requests for proxy votes to the House Clerk. Not even during the Civil War, the Spanish Flu or any other emergency has the House allowed proxy floor votes. Under the new rules, proxy voting is allowed only under emergency conditions, for 45 days at a time.