Legal Masquerade: Missouri v. Biden Settlement Exposes Post-Conciliar Naturalism

The cited EWTN News article from March 31, 2026, reports on Dr. Aaron Kheriaty’s discussion of the settlement in *Missouri v. Biden*, a case that resulted in a consent decree restricting certain federal agencies from pressuring social media platforms to censor speech. The article frames this as a victory for free speech against government overreach, highlighting Kheriaty’s personal story of being fired from the University of California, Irvine, for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. While the settlement is presented as a precedent-setting blow against censorship, the analysis remains confined to a secular, constitutional framework, utterly devoid of the supernatural perspective and the social reign of Christ the King that constitute the immutable Catholic doctrine on the relationship between truth, authority, and the common good. The article’s fundamental error is its acceptance of the modern, naturalistic premise that “free speech” is an absolute right divorced from the moral law and the duty of the state to uphold the true religion, a premise condemned by the Magisterium.