Jimmy Kimmel is back, but free speech remains in limbo

People walk by the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio on Hollywood Blvd., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
People walk by the Jimmy Kimmel Live studio on Hollywood Blvd., Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has returned to television screens, but concerns linger over whether free speech in America is under threat.

Kimmel’s short-lived suspension was viewed by many as the latest example of government censorship.

Even before Kimmel went dark, a government crackdown aimed at silencing the president’s critics was already underway, igniting a firestorm of debate about one of America’s most sacred civil liberties.

Host Caryn Ceolin speaks with Eugene Volokh, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, to discuss the Trump administration’s power to limit what people can say, and why free speech everywhere is vulnerable.

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