Freeze Peach Friday: Donald Trump and the First Amendment

Free speech is a hot button topic on campus from coast to coast, and one that is hardly black and white. Blogger Claire Hubert is taking time every week to explore the nuances that surround our First Amendment rights.

When I started this project, I wanted to stay as unbiased as possible. However, it is impossible for me to stay silent in regards to what happened Tuesday night. There are many, many reasons that Donald Trump scares me. But perhaps one of the most terrifying is his disregard for the First Amendment. Trump always purports to be against political correctness, a facet of his caricature his supporters flocked to. His supporters worshiped the fact he said whatever he wanted to say. And he has every right to do so.

[ICYMI: Freeze Peach Friday: An Introduction]

As I pointed out in my preceding article, however, First Amendment rights are a two-way street. Trump supports his right to say whatever he wants, but does not respect the right of others to do the same. Trump revoked the Washington Post’s press credentials and said he’d like to punch a protester in the face.

Under a Trump presidency our rights potentially could be threatened, so we should make sure we know what they are in the first place.

Unless you somehow evaded the slog that is kindergarten to 12th grade education, you should know that a cute lil’ 47-word blurb our Founding Fathers plopped front and center in of our Bill of Rights protects some of the rights Americans hold most dear to their heart.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

[Related: Last week’s Freeze Peach Friday]

So often, I feel like people are uncertain as to what speech is protected and what speech isn’t protected under the First Amendment. There have been numerous attempts on the Supreme Court’s behalf to clear up some of the gray area:

• Threats, or anything else that presents a clear and present danger, are not protected. So when Trump said that he’d like to punch a protester in the face, he’s overstepping the bounds of what speech is protected by the First Amendment.
• Straight-up lies, false statements of fact and libel aren’t protected either. Trump has said he wants to “open up” libel laws and make it easier to sue media for writing “hit pieces” against him. However, libel laws are decided on a state level, so any action Trump would take himself would be an attack on the First Amendment.
• Hate speech, however one defines it, is unfortunately protected. While I am disgusted by the racist and sexist things he’s said about America’s Latino population, black population and women, they are indeed protected under the First Amendment.
• Symbolic speech, like burning a U.S. flag, is protected. Every person protesting Trump’s election by burning flags is protected by the First Amendment.
• Your rights aren’t abridged because you are a student, either – one doesn’t “shed their constitutional rights at the schoolgate.”

My hope is that, as we watch a president who respects and understands the First Amendment with the greatest reverence leave office, Mr. Trump will be able to take a page out of his book.

My fear is that Trump will try to write his own book at the expense of the country and the press’ freedom of speech. If Trump has not shown respect to the First Amendment – the one the Founding Fathers felt was important enough to put at the very beginning of the Bill of Rights, I am terrified to see what other rights he will begin to abridge.