It’s Black Letter Law:…
“Congress shall make no law …. abridging the freedom of speech….”
Those ten words appear to have been seriously violated by a judge and a three judge panel… They ruled that because the ex-President is an indicited criminal defendant, the Three Judge panel affirmed in part an order prohibiting Donald Trump from exercising his Right to speak freely. The order bars Trump from making public statements about potential witnesses in the case “concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.” Additionally, the Republican 2024 front-runner is not allowed to make comments about any legal defense involved in the case.
However, Trump is still granted permission to make statements that criticize Special Counsel Jack Smith, the Biden administration, and the Justice Department. He is also able to express his innocence and assert that the case is a “politically-motivated witch hunt.”
The 45th president is being accused of allegedly attempting to block the transfer of power and of broadening his ability to attack Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Trump’s legal team promptly issued a statement:
“We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding, warranting a speech-constraining protective order. The district court’s order, however, sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary. For that reason, we affirm the district court’s order in part and vacate it in part. Specifically, the Order is affirmed to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,” Trump’s team stated.
The former president is allowed to appeal the decision to a D.C. Circuit. He can also appeal it by seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
All this is highly irregular. The Right to speak freely is not unlimited however constraining Trump from speaking constrains his ability to influence events and that’s an aspsct of the Right to Free Speech that’s problamatic for Justice.
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