Trump and Barr Violated Free Speech for a Photo Op
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Did President Donald Trumps administration violate the First Amendment on June 1 when various police and other security forces tear gassed peaceful demonstrators in Lafayette Square park so the president could walk to St. Johns Church for a photo op? That is the central question in a lawsuit brought over the weekend by the Washington, D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter and a number of individual protesters.
The answer is almost certainly yes. And the lawsuit is extremely important, not because the plaintiffs will necessarily prevail, but because it is the best and maybe only way to prevent such a blatant constitutional violation from happening again just steps from the White House.
Like most people, I followed the events of the evening of June 1 on television. The Trump administration may eventually offer a different version than the one we saw. For now, however, its reasonable to assume a set of facts pretty close to those alleged in the lawsuit.
Essentially, Lafayette Square, directly across from the White House, was full of peaceful protesters. They were exercising their First Amendment rights in a public park, which the courts consider to be the very model of a traditional public forum where free speech rights are at their peak.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-barr-violated-free-speech-133022240.html
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)The First Amendment actually contains five basic freedoms: Freedom of speech, press, petition, assembly and religion. He violated the protesters' freedom of speech by dispersing them and making it impossible for them to express their opinions. The same actions also infringed on their right of assembly and their right to petition the government. He violated press freedom by having police and soldiers interfere with reporters. And he violated freedom of religion - which includes the obligation of the government not to favor any religion over any other - by doing a photo-op in front of a Christian church and waving around a Christian Bible. This incident should be included for discussion in all law schools' first-year constitutional law courses because it covers the whole thing.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)Pretty impressive (not in a complimentary way) managing to hit all five in one fell swoop.