(Editor’s note: This column is part of a Seattle Times Opinion series exploring the First Amendment and its five freedoms.)
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is composed of 45 words, and those 45 words are the strongest bulwark against tyranny in this country.
They promise all Americans the right to worship (or not worship) as they choose, the right to speak freely without fear of punishment, to publish and report the news without interference, to protest peacefully, and to petition the government for “redress of grievances.”
Those rights are the core of the free lives we deserve to live, but the First Amendment’s promise is not necessarily a guarantee, because someone in power always tries to break the promise when it interferes with their goals and plans.
There are endless examples of the Trump administration being especially intent on breaking the promise.
In recent days, President Donald Trump’s minions at the Federal Communications Commission threatened ABC and the network’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, with sanctions if he aired his interview with James Talarico, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas, even though politicians are frequent guests on TV talk shows (including Trump, who has been on Kimmel’s show twice).
Kimmel chose not to air the interview on ABC but made an end run around the FCC by putting the Talarico interview on YouTube.
This week, a judge ruled that the First Amendment rights of a New York man were violated when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came to his home in Rochester after he had written a scathing email to the acting director of ICE.
In August, a federal judge in California ruled that the Trump administration cannot deport students simply because they publicly criticized Israel.
The Pentagon is being sued by a publisher, an editor and a reporter for Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper. The three were fired because they resisted the attempts of Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth to censor their coverage, a clear violation of the First Amendment.
Trump has repeatedly sought to punish reporters, news outlets and commentators for expressing opinions or breaking news stories that he does not like. Last month, he threatened to bring a $5 billion defamation lawsuit against the Center for American Progress merely for publishing a report that concluded his deployment of the National Guard to various American cities has had negligible effect on reducing violent crime.
Sometimes a news organization or a think tank buckles under fire, but, when they resist, they almost invariably win because even conservative judges can read the 45 words of the First Amendment.
Those 45 words are a promise that must be claimed over and over again, especially when faced with a government run by a president who does not know, or does not care, what the words mean.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
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