Preston Byrne

This page collects, in one place and in chronological order, the complete public record of the GRANITE Act: from the litigation that revealed the problem, to the blog post that proposed the solution, to the state bills, to the federal effort now underway. It exists so that journalists, congressional staff, lawyers, and researchers don’t have to reconstruct the chronology themselves. Every date below is the original publication date; nothing has been backdated or revised except where expressly noted in the underlying posts. I will keep this page updated as events develop.

Reminder: What is a GRANITE Act?

A GRANITE Act, as the term is commonly used in free speech law circles, does three essential things:

  1. The shield: it confirms, in statute, the existing judge-made position on non-enforcement of foreign censorship orders, demands, and judgments under First Amendment doctrine;
  2. The sword: if a federal bill, it creates a private right of action, of some type, that can be brought against a foreign censor (this requirement is optional for state bills, as federal supremacy issues that crop up here have proven tricky in the past); and
  3. The definitions: it defines “foreign censorship law” and the type of foreign censorship action which engages the shield and, where applicable, the sword in such a way as to address and deter the actual censorship modalities employed by foreign censorship agencies, which are frequently conducted by administrative fiat rather than by judicially-supervised due process.

There are at least seven different public versions of introduced or introduction-ready bills incorporating various parts of the GRANITE Act architecture in circulation as of today. In order of their production:

  • February 2026: The Wyoming GRANITE Act 2026, HB 70, the first-ever GRANITE bill, which I co-authored with Colin Crossman and Daniel Singh, a sword & shield state bill with extensive federal savings language, introduced in February 2026. It passed the Wyoming House of Representatives 46-12 later that month before stalling in the Senate in the short budget session;
  • February 2026: The West Virginia GRANITE Act, a sword & shield state bill, introduced in the West Virginia Senate mere days after Wyoming’s bill, in the short 2026 WV session but did not advance;
  • March 2026: The Wyoming GRANITE Act (2027 reintroduction), a shield-only state bill currently in interim study anticipated to be introduced as a committee bill in early 2027;
  • July 2026: The ALEC GRANITE Act, a model bill spearheaded by Rep. Daniel Singh adopted by ALEC as a model national policy in July 2026;
  • August 2026: The Rulli GRANITE Act, HR 10174, a federal sword & shield bill, the first federal GRANITE bill, filed on August 27th;
  • September 2026: The New Hampshire GRANITE Act, filed for numbering on September 1st; and
  • September 2026: The Davidson HOMEFRONT Act, HR 10309, the second federal bill implementing the GRANITE sword + shield architecture and the first to do so that includes damages language. (Full bill text.)

The history of how this happened follows below.

I. Origins: The Problem (June – October 2025)

The GRANITE Act did not begin as a bill. It began as a litigation problem: foreign regulators asserting authority over American websites, American speech, and American citizens, with no effective remedy available under existing U.S. law.

II. The Proposal (October 18, 2025)

  • October 18, 2025 — The GRANITE Act: How Congress Can Strike Back Against Foreign Censors. The original post. A model statute, free-drafted on this blog, proposing a two-part structure: a shield (non-recognition of foreign censorship judgments, in the tradition of the SPEECH Act) and a sword (a private right of action, with statutory damages, for any attempt, successful or not, to censor the protected speech of Americans).
  • Everything that follows flows from this post.

III. The States: Proof of Concept (November 2025 – Present)

IV. The Federal Track (December 2025 – Present)

V. The UK’s Censorship Export Model Falters, But The Threats Continue (May 2026-Present)

VI. The Evidence That Federal Reforms Are Needed

The GRANITE Act is not an abstract law reform proposal drafted as a theoretical response to a theoretical problem. The GRANITE Act was drafted as a specific, targeted response to ten years of foreign censorship attempts, as I encountered them in practice. Over the course of the last 12 months, I have documented the most recent of these attempts, from the UK’s Ofcom, for public review and transparency in the “Ofcom Files” series and related posts:

To date, in eight years of attempts, no foreign regulator has collected a penny from any client of this firm, and none has attempted to domesticate a foreign censorship judgment in a United States court – although they have repeatedly claimed to have the power to do so.

The GRANITE Act, federally, would answer this question by confirming that foreign censors have no such power.

VII. The British Flank

Opening a second front for law reformers in the UK and the Commonwealth, including GRANITE-style statutory provisions, through the Adam Smith Institute:

VIII. Selected Commentary and Interviews

Last updated: September 12, 2026. This page will be updated as the federal process develops.