In the new 10-episode podcast Speaking Freely, free speech expert Stephen Rohde unpacks major Supreme Court cases on expression—tackling issues like hate speech, defamation, incitement and more.
America is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump had the audacity to sign an executive order claiming he was “restoring freedom of speech.” Instead, his administration is systematically destroying our most fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to speak, write, dissent and protest freely.
Trump has ordered the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in both the public and private sectors and has targeted several leading American universities, threatening to withhold federal funding to schools who “indoctrinate” students with “woke” ideology. Trump is particularly targeting Harvard University, threatening their tax-exempt status, enrollment of international students and federal funding in the name of “safeguard[ing] national security” following Trump’s baseless allegations of the university’s “concerning foreign ties and radicalism.”
He attempted to shut down the Voice of America and censor displays in the Smithsonian Museum. His administration canceled, then reversed the cancellation, of foreign student visas and has deported legal permanent residents, claiming their campus protests were contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests. He has canceled the security clearances, government contracts and access to federal buildings of several prominent law firms because he doesn’t agree with the clients they represent. One order was struck down in May by a federal judge as unconstitutional. He excluded the Associated Press from the White House because it refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr and Federal Trade Commission chair Andrew Ferguson, both appointed by Trump, are overriding the editorial choices of social media companies in the name of “fairness and balance.” The FCC is investigating how CBS edited a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Trump himself sued CBS News alleging “consumer fraud” for making Harris seem less “CRAZY” and “DUMB,” claiming he suffered “at least” $10 billion in damages. In December, he sued The Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer for reporting the results of a pre-election poll that gave Harris a three-point lead in that state. Trump appealed the decision on June 5, bringing it to federal court in Iowa.
Americans pride themselves on living in a free country. From an early age, we are taught to believe that everyone is entitled to express their own opinions. But when these comfortable and reassuring views have been tested during periods of fear and insecurity, the public often jettisons its faith in the First Amendment and accepts—indeed encourages—restrictions on free speech, incorrectly believing that such restrictions help promote other interests such as national security, safety, morality and patriotism.
The First Amendment has survived and has played a pivotal role in the development of American democracy and in the success of the anti-slavery, labor, women’s rights, anti-war, civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights movements.
History offers many shameful examples:
- The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (recently invoked by Trump with disastrous consequences);
- Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War; the Comstock Act of 1873 (which may be on its way to resurrection);
- The Espionage Act of 1917; the Office of Censorship during World War II;
- The Smith Act during the Communist scare;
- The censorship of important literature (Joyce’s Ulysses), films (I Am Curious (Yellow)) and social critics (Lenny Bruce and George Carlin);
- The suppression of anti-war and civil rights protests; and
- Prosecutions for burning draft cards and the American flag.
Despite these numerous setbacks, the First Amendment has survived and has played a pivotal role in the development of American democracy and in the success of the anti-slavery, labor, women’s rights, anti-war, civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights movements.
Defending the First Amendment was at the heart of my practice of law and remains at the core of my intellectual life to this day. I have learned that if you are not prepared to defend the First Amendment rights of everyone—whether you agree with them or not—you do not deserve to be called a defender of the First Amendment.
Thus, in the midst of such a concerted effort by the president of the United States to destroy freedom of speech and freedom of the press, I am grateful that Ms. Studios is releasing Speaking Freely: A First Amendment Podcast with Stephen Rohde.
In the podcast, I look at the U.S. Supreme Court’s most important First Amendment decisions to show why robust protection for freedom of speech and freedom of the press is absolutely indispensable to our constitutional democracy. Today, we must prevent Trump from silencing his critics and we must “rouse each and every one of you” to stir into life the massive voice of the people and resist his every encroachment on our right to speak freely.
Listen to Speaking Freely on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart. All 10 episodes available now.
