NOTE: I am not an attorney, nor can I give legal advice. These are my opinions formed over decades of work and experience, much of which included 80-plus court cases when I was an expert court advisor.

By Steven Barket
Las Vegas

A bit of a roundup regarding rulings by the United States Supreme Court on the subject of anonymous blogging:

“The right to remain anonymous is a fundamental component of our right to free speech, and it applies every bit as much in the digital world as it does in the physical one. In the words of the U.S. Supreme Court in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, ‘Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.’ ”

The freedom to publish anonymously is protected by the First Amendment, and, as Talley indicates in the write up in the first link below, extends beyond the literary realm to the advocacy of political causes:

• Talley v. California, 362 U. S. 60
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/514/334/

• Delaware State Supreme Court Ruling in favor of anonymous blogging:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9614029

• From First Amendment encyclopedia:
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/32/anonymous-speech

• ACLU Wins case on preserving anonymity in Michigan:
https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/32/anonymous-speech

• United States District Court for the Northern District of California:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/victory-court-rules-dmca-does-not-override-first-amendments-anonymous-speech

• Maryland Court of Appeals: A big win for anonymous Web speech
https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news-media-and-the-law-spring-2009/big-win-anonymous-web-speec/

• How the First Amendment Protects Anonymous Speech Online
https://www.freedomforum.org/how-the-first-amendment-protects-anonymous-speech-online/