Trump tests the First Amendment: A timeline
By Kaanita Iyer, Matt Stiles, CNN
(CNN) — Within weeks of retaking the White House, President Donald Trump boasted that he had “brought free speech back to America.” But since then, he has tested the limits of the First Amendment time and again, stoking alarm among civil rights experts and his critics.
The First Amendment protects the freedom of religion, speech and press; the right to peaceful assembly; and the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” It also bars the government from enacting laws that prevent the “free exercise” of these rights.
On Saturday, Trump is set to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual celebration of the First Amendment and the role of a free press that presidents have traditionally attended, but one that Trump skipped during his previous term.
Trump’s attendance is notable given that through executive orders, lawsuits and Truth Social posts, his administration in the last 15 months has gone after news organizations, protesters, universities, law firms and speakers it doesn’t agree with.
A group of journalism organizations, including the Society of Professional Journalists, and individual journalists issued a letter on Monday to the White House Correspondents’ Association, which hosts the dinner, urging attendees to condemn Trump’s “efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
“There is a long tradition of presidents attending the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. But these are not normal times, and this cannot be business as usual with the press standing up to applaud the man who attacks them on a daily basis,” the letter reads.
Several of the administration’s efforts have been successfully challenged in court. However, some organizations have also conceded to pressure from Trump, such as Disney’s ABC, which temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show over his comments on Charlie Kirk after the conservative activist’s killing.
One civil liberties expert told CNN the First Amendment is “undoubtedly, unquestionably” being weakened during the president’s second term.
The Trump administration is “trying to frighten Americans out of exercising their First Amendment rights by denying them benefits if they dare to do something that Trump doesn’t like,” said Burt Neuborne, a civil liberties professor at New York University law school.
Neuborne warned that the “net result” would be “a society that is not exercising their First Amendment rights. The First Amendment rights are there, but it’s too costly to exercise them.”
Here is a timeline of some of the instances where Trump has tested the First Amendment.
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