By Stephany Matat
Age verification, artificial intelligence, and academic freedom dominated First Amendment debates in 2025. As the calendar turns to 2026, constitutional scholars say those disputes are poised to intensify – and to produce consequential legal outcomes.
[ . . . ]The Supreme Court is expected to continue to draw lines between the government’s interest in protecting children and constitutional limits prohibiting broad, content-based burdens on lawful speech, said Ashkhen Kazaryan, a senior legal fellow at the Future of Free Speech.
“The constitutional tension is that age verification (does) more than regulate access. (It) can deter adults from engaging with protected expression, undermine anonymity, and force platforms to redesign how speech is organized and delivered,” Kazaryan said.
[ . . . ]Kazaryan agreed that the speech of non-citizen students will continue to be scrutinized by the Trump administration and said that executive actions aimed at regulating university programs, federal funding and protest activity will “increasingly collide with free speech and free association principles.”
“Beyond campuses, the government will also continue testing new theories and grey legal areas to justify actions like monitoring social media posts of those applying for visas or targeting immigrants for speech they deem ‘anti-American,’ ” Kazaryan said.
[ . . . ]But with how ubiquitous AI content becomes, the question of who is liable for AI-generated speech will continue develop in 2026, Kazaryan said.
“There will no doubt be more legislation from state legislatures that will be tested by the courts regarding where First Amendment protections lie in the age of AI,” Kazaryan said.
Ashkhen Kazaryan is a Senior Legal Fellow at The Future of Free Speech, where she leads initiatives to protect free expression and shape policies that uphold the First Amendment in the digital age.