FOR THE WEEK OF SEP. 22, 2025

Free speech defenders speak out against federal officials' actions and statements aimed at critics, networks and a TV comedian

A public civics lesson about free speech is underway nationwide as recent federal government actions draw attention to that First Amendment guarantee in the U.S. Constitution. America's founders saw freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly and the right to petition the government as so vital that protecting those principles leads the 10-item Bill of Rights adopted in 1791. More than 230 years later, some see threats to open expression in statements and moves by the president and top aides.

The attorney general spoke last week about criminalizing what she called "hate speech," then backed off after a bipartisan outcry. The administration has punished federal employes and military members for negative comments about podcaster Charlie Kirk, assassinated Sept. 10 on a Utah campus. It also suggests that schools, local government, media companies and other businesses should discipline those posting or speaking critically about Kirk, a Trump ally. ABC put late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on indefinite leave last week after the president complained about one of his jokes. Trump later went further, saying federal regulators should revoke the broadcast license of networks whose on-air personalities speak too harshly about him.

In past years, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government must protect the freedom to express unpopular opinions, satire and even hate speech if not directly inflammatory. Justices confirmed that the First Amendment protects nearly all speech against government interference, except in extreme instances such as inciting imminent violence, falsely causing panic and libeling or slandering someone with a harmful lie. (The amendment doesn't apply to private employers.) The same constitutional safeguard shields the news media against official meddling, another line the administration is testing. The Justice Department has sued multiple news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, over their coverage. As of last Friday, reporters risk losing military coverage credentials if they gather or use information not formally authorized for release – a severe limit that even covers unclassified information. "Follow the rules or go home," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media.

The flurry of actions differ from pledges after Trump won a second term last fall (the first was 2017-21). At January's inauguration, he vowed "to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America." A presidential order that day described the First Amendment as "essential to the success of our republic, enshrining the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without government interference." And in a State of the Union speech to Congress in March, the Republican president said: "I have stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America."

Now a prominent Republican senator, Ted Cruz of Texas, joins the pushback. "It is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, ‘We’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don't, and we're going to threaten to take you off air if we don't like what you’re saying,'" Cruz said last week. A New York Times editorial noted that "our republic depends on citizens' freedom to disagree with one another. . . . If the American ideal of freedom means anything, it is that Americans can engage in an extremely wide range of political speech, including the tasteless and the offensive." The opinion essay's headline: "The Trump Administration's Chilling Efforts to Punish Free Speech."

Republican strategist says: "Using Charlie's murder to justify retaliation against political rivals is wrong and dangerous. It will further divide and embitter our country. No good thing will come of it." – Karl Rove, senior adviser to President George W. Bush (2001-07)

Governor says: "Prosecuting constitutionally protected speech will only erode our freedoms and deepen mistrust. That is un-American." — Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pennsylvania

Columnist says: "I feel like we're in the most dangerous point for free speech in America in my [56-year] lifetime." – David French, The New York Times