Showing posts with label US Constitutional protections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Constitutional protections. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Trump Says Critical Coverage of Him Is ‘Really Illegal’; The New York Times, September 19, 2025

, The New York Times; Trump Says Critical Coverage of Him Is ‘Really Illegal’


[Kip Currier: The most objective (and nicest) way to respond to Trump's assertion that critical reporting on him is "really illegal" is that it is legally incorrect and factually untrue. Whether Trump is regrettably misinformed in stating this falsehood or intentionally uttering this inaccuracy is less material than the fact that he is objectively wrong.

There are countries where it is illegal to say critical things about heads of nations: Russia. China. North Korea. Iran. Saudi Arabia. Turkey. Thailand. Others. Indeed, criticizing the head of state will likely get one defenestrated (as tragically happens all too often in Russia), killed in other ways, tortured, jailed, or disappeared.

Fortunately, it is not (yet) illegal to say negative things about U.S. Presidents at present. And it never has been, since the founding of the country in 1776 when the monarchical dictates of England's King George III were soundly declined by the American colonists. The t-shirt below proudly (and wholly truthfully) proclaims that historical truth that occurred in America 249 years ago:



[Excerpt]

"President Trump said Friday that news reporters who cover his administration negatively have broken the law, a significant broadening of his attacks on journalists and their First Amendment right to critique the government.

A day after asserting that broadcasters should potentially lose their licenses over negative news coverage of him, Mr. Trump escalated his condemnations of the press, suggesting reporters were lawbreakers.

“They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad,” he said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “See, I think that’s really illegal.”

Mr. Trump did not cite a specific law he said he believed had been violated. It remained unclear Friday why Mr. Trump believed negative news coverage, which every president has faced and is protected by the Constitution, would be “really illegal.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment Friday evening."

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Trump's orders targeting law firms raise constitutional concerns, experts say; Reuters, March 10, 2025

 , Reuters; Trump's orders targeting law firms raise constitutional concerns, experts say

"President Donald Trump's executive orders terminating security clearances and taking other actions against two prominent law firms may violate constitutional protections and represent exceptional acts of retribution against lawyers who have crossed him in the past, according to legal experts.

The two firms targeted by the Republican president have represented Trump adversaries. Perkins Coie represented the campaign of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in his first presidential run. Covington & Burling currently represents Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed during Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration who brought criminal charges against Trump in two cases."