Trump’s Attack on Free Speech and One Federal Judge’s Fiery Rebuke

[mad1961]

Once again, a judge shuts Trump down.

Trump’s Attack on Free Speech and One Federal Judge’s Fiery Rebuke​

Judge William Young of the Federal District Court in Boston is a Reagan appointee who has been on the bench for 47 years. Last June, he received a threatening postcard. Handwritten in all caps, it read, “TRUMP HAS PARDONS AND TANKS…WHAT DO YOU HAVE?” The date is significant: June 19th was just five days after Trump’s ostentatious Washington, DC military parade, part of the birthday party Trump threw for himself and the US Army, at public expense. The parade was little more than a multi-hour display of tank after tank rolling by the temporary bleachers where Trump sat among his loyalists.

Judge Young opened an order he issued this week with an image of that postcard. He followed with a message to the cards sender:

“Dear Mr. or Ms. Anonymous,

Alone, I have nothing but my sense of duty. Together, We the People of the United States –- you and me – have our magnificent Constitution. Here’s how that works out in a specific case —”

What followed was a 161-page excoriation of the Trump administration’s attack on free speech.

The case was filed by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and other academic organizations, alleging the government had criminalized “any speech supportive of Palestinian human rights or critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza,” and was targeting pro-Palestinian visiting students and scholars for deportation.

Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, Judge Young wrote,

“This case — perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court — squarely presents the issue of whether non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally 'yes, they do.'”

The non-citizens referred to are Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Badar Khan Suri. Each of them was in the United States legally, and had publicly supported Palestinian rights. As the nine-day trial presided over by Judge Young proceeded, facts accumulated that the Trump administration, and specifically Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and their subordinates had targeted these individuals for deportation largely because of their speech.

Trump’s Attack on Free Speech and One Federal Judge’s Fiery Rebuke

By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan This week Judge William Young excoriated the Trump administration’s attack on free speech. “This case — perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court — squarely presents the issue of whether non-citizens lawfully present...

www.democracynow.org

 

[mark francis]

Once again, a judge shuts Trump down.

Trump’s Attack on Free Speech and One Federal Judge’s Fiery Rebuke​

Judge William Young of the Federal District Court in Boston is a Reagan appointee who has been on the bench for 47 years. Last June, he received a threatening postcard. Handwritten in all caps, it read, “TRUMP HAS PARDONS AND TANKS…WHAT DO YOU HAVE?” The date is significant: June 19th was just five days after Trump’s ostentatious Washington, DC military parade, part of the birthday party Trump threw for himself and the US Army, at public expense. The parade was little more than a multi-hour display of tank after tank rolling by the temporary bleachers where Trump sat among his loyalists.

Judge Young opened an order he issued this week with an image of that postcard. He followed with a message to the cards sender:



What followed was a 161-page excoriation of the Trump administration’s attack on free speech.

The case was filed by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and other academic organizations, alleging the government had criminalized “any speech supportive of Palestinian human rights or critical of Israel’s military actions in Gaza,” and was targeting pro-Palestinian visiting students and scholars for deportation.

Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, Judge Young wrote,


The non-citizens referred to are Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Badar Khan Suri. Each of them was in the United States legally, and had publicly supported Palestinian rights. As the nine-day trial presided over by Judge Young proceeded, facts accumulated that the Trump administration, and specifically Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and their subordinates had targeted these individuals for deportation largely because of their speech.

Trump’s Attack on Free Speech and One Federal Judge’s Fiery Rebuke

By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan This week Judge William Young excoriated the Trump administration’s attack on free speech. “This case — perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court — squarely presents the issue of whether non-citizens lawfully present...

www.democracynow.org

So a US judge reacted to a card he received from some Jussie Smollett wannabe-like-him? Big deal.