That law has existed since 1951 and is based on an executive order from 1931 by Hindenburg.

This is actually not uncommon in most of the world. American 1A is actually an extremely novel concept most other countries still haven't caught up on.

American 1A is as strong as it's proving to be right now and increasingly proving to be stronger and stronger by the day, since January this year!

Many other countries have protections like that, "on paper" (!!!) - but the point is in how it is used or misused, or rather completely ignored - directly or indirectly, like in the USA currently and many other countries in the world.

Novel in what sense? Are you familiar with the hisory of free speech in e.g. the UK, Sweden, and France?

The UK, where the government has literally smashed printing presses in the newspaper age when magazines were thought to be publishing embarrassing news about the Crown? Where the government's legal authority to do so is still intact? That UK?