This piece originally appeared in the Courier Journal on March 3, 2025.

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recent retirement announcement closes a chapter on one of the most consequential legislative careers in modern American history.

His most underappreciated legacy, though, may be as the Senate’s foremost advocate for free speech.

For four decades, Sen. McConnell has stood as a bulwark against restrictions on speech and association, regardless of who led the attack. His principled defense of these fundamental rights often put him at odds with popular opinion — or his own party.

Despite those challenges, Sen. McConnell remained steadfast in his support for free speech. As he said in 2014 in response to a bipartisan effort to restrict election spending, “If incumbent politicians were in charge of political speech, a majority could design the rules to benefit itself and diminish its opponents. And when roles reversed, you could expect a new majority to try to disadvantage the other half of the country. And on it would go.”

He understands something that many fail to appreciate: Government restrictions on anyone’s speech threaten everyone’s liberty.

McConnell has been consistent, courageous on free speech

On this issue, Sen. McConnell’s record has been as consistent as it has been courageous.

In 2006, he was one of only three Republicans who voted against sending a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning to the states for ratification. It failed by just one vote — his. Despite his belief that flag-burners were “degenerate attention-seekers,” he recognized that even the most grotesque and misguided speech could not justify chipping away at our First Amendment rights.

This commitment to principle was perhaps most evident in his fight against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law in 2002. Sen. McConnell not only led the legislative effort against the bill, but he took the battle to the courts as the lead plaintiff in McConnell v. FEC. While that case resulted in an initial setback, subsequent Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United v. FEC strengthened First Amendment protections for political speech.

Yet the bipartisan attacks on free speech haven’t abated. Recently, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill that would try an end run around Citizens United, opening the door to limiting the speech rights of organizations including advocacy groups, newspaper publishers, or labor unions. Citizens United has long been a boogeyman for Democrats, and it was disheartening to see Sen. Hawley join their misguided criticism.

But Sen. McConnell stood firm. He warned his colleagues of incoming fire if they joined the doomed effort to restrict political speech. Hawley’s bill never made it to the floor.

Sen. McConnell’s consistency has been matched by practical effectiveness. In 1994, he helped defeat legislation that would have used taxpayer dollars to fund political campaigns. Three decades later, he blocked the deeply flawed S.1, the Senate counterpart to House Democrats’ sweeping effort to impose new restrictions on advocacy groups and their supporters.

Protecting the speech and privacy rights of such groups has frequently been top-of-mind for Sen. McConnell. Throughout his career, he has resisted attempts to force nonprofit organizations to disclose their donors, understanding that privacy is essential to protecting dissident voices.

The Supreme Court established that principle in NAACP v. Alabama, a 1958 decision that prevented Alabama’s Attorney General from discovering the identity of civil rights supporters and exposing them to intimidation and harassment. And 60 years later, when the California Attorney General tried to force charities to disclose their donors for little to no reason, Sen. McConnell urged the Supreme Court to shut it down. Thankfully, the Court did just that.

McConnell’s retirement comes at critical moment for free speech rights

In celebrating his well-earned legacy, we must also grapple with this reality: Sen. McConnell’s retirement comes at a critical moment for free speech rights. Both parties have shown a troubling eagerness to weaponize government power against their adversaries, with no sign that this will stop.

Unfortunately, Sen. McConnel’s retirement means we’ll have one less voice standing up for speech when we need it most.

Perhaps Sen. McConnell’s commitment to “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open” public debate will inspire future lawmakers. His career reminds us that the First Amendment’s protections must extend to all Americans — particularly those with whom we disagree.

Free speech is not always popular. Kentuckians (and all Americans) are fortunate to have had a long-serving senator committed to defending it anyway.