Talk about weasel words! Maybe one of the dumber judges would fall for that, but:
A. Of course they are not synonymous, as the First Amendment grants more rights than just the right to free speech.
B. You are simply wrong. "Free speech" does indeed refer to the right to free speech, which right is contained in the First Amendment and generally echoed in state constitutions. I don't have Black's in front of me (but hey, only Scalia really gave a **** about it), but everything else explicitly ties it to the First Amendment because of course it does: that's what it means.
The entire point of using the words "free" or "freedom of" in reference to "speech" is to invoke the constitutional protection. Because (1) as I said, ****ing duh, (2) there is no sense in which there is a right to free(dom of) speech as against any entity other than the government.
C. If one doesn't mean to refer to the right to free speech, then one says "speech." It's a term of art and we both know it, so drop the silliness.
You are splitting hairs to defend someone on the right, and not even for a marginally decent reason. We both know it.
Cease.
I'm not splitting any hairs.
A
respect for free speech is something which exists outside of any First Amendment concerns. IF you are trying to silence someone, whoever you are, you are not respecting the principle of free speech. You are
also not respecting someone else's
right to free speech by trying to shut them down simply because you disagree with them. No, you may not be the government, but are you really going to argue that
only the government can violate someone's rights? If so, I have a zillion other questions for you.
You, for your part, obviously want to limit the concept of "free speech" only to First Amendment concerns, i.e., government censorship.
But government censorship is not, and never was, the point here. These things occur on university campuses, the purpose of which is supposed be free thought, free inquiry, and free exchange of ideas -- which includes the respect for those concepts.
LIBERALISM is about respecting each other's rights, and respecting the
principle of free speech at the very least.
So no, I'm splitting no hairs. You apparently just don't get the concept.