Sabrina Haake: Jimmy Kimmel has a First Amendment claim against Trump's FCC

[SunSeeker]

Kimmel’s show was suspended after Kimmel talked about the horrific Charlie Kirk murder during his comedic monologue. Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Whether Kimmel’s joke was funny or not, anyone who spent five minutes online after Kirk was shot knows that statement to be largely true: right wing commentators, Trump, and Trump supporters were salivating over the prospect that Kirk’s shooter was from the left, even before his identity was known.
...
Expressly threatening ABC’s broadcast license over the statement, Carr stated, “I've been very clear from the moment that I have become chairman of the FCC… what people don't understand is that the broadcasters… are entirely different than people that use other forms of communication. They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest.” Reflecting Trump’s mob-boss mentality, Carr then threatened ABC and its parent company, Disney, over Kimmel’s joke, stating, “Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
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The First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring or threatening private media outlets for political speech, because threats of government sanction, retribution or punishment has a direct chilling effect on that speech. Just last year the Supreme Court ruled in National Rifle Association v. Vullo that government officials cannot use coercive tactics to suppress disfavored speech, stressing that government officials cannot achieve indirect censorship by threatening private companies (like ABC) to punish certain viewpoints (like Kimmel’s).

https://sabrinahaake.substack.com/p/brett-kavanaughs-swiss-cheese-excuse


Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th Amendment defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

[Blues Heron]

1. Boom. Clear violation, and Unlike the sick fuck, has no immunity. Sue his ass to mars on one of elons rockets.

[SunSeeker]

2. This would be a civil case anyway, not a criminal case.

There is no presidential immunity from civil litigation.