We can still print that, which means the fight is far from over. But every day, it seems, we face new threats to our constitutional right of free expression. The Texas Legislature passed a law that forbids college students to — we’re simplifying but not really — use campus common spaces at night. The city of Conroe is considering a policy that would charge steep fees for anyone holding a large public gathering. The Pentagon is restricting press access to journalists who promise not to do their job. State and federal officials have stated they intend to go after so-called radical leftists, including with an “undercover” investigation (with its own press release) to root out “leftist terror cells” in Texas.
Allies of the Trump administration have already declared the upcoming nationwide No Kings protests to be “a hate America rally” funded by a “criminal organization” and encouraged by the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic Party. When a reporter asked President Donald Trump earlier this month whether protestors in Washington, D.C. still had their First Amendment rights, he responded, “Yeah, well, I’m not so sure.”
But the good news here is that people are speaking up.
