Fox News, NYT, AP and other media outlets jointly condemn Trump’s media ban - POLITICO

The brief was signed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents’ Association and 49 other media organizations. That list runs the ideological gamut, from Fox News to Vox Media, and includes every major television broadcast network, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among others…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/23/trump-media-ban-news-outlet-brief-01090259

 

Appeals court’s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban - POLITICO

The majority opinion, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a “nonpublic forum” — just like most areas of the White House grounds, including the press facilities. While the government may impose restrictions on access to those nonpublic areas, the limits must be “viewpoint neutral,” apply “objective, workable standards” and not permit officials to exercise “unbridled discretion over a forum’s use,” the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/22/dc-circuit-ruling-capitol-steps-01087843 

Trump: CNN, MS NOW and Politico banned from the White House : NPR

President Trump said Friday that he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavorable coverage, and threatened that more such media prohibitions could be coming — offering his administration's latest test of constitutional First Amendment protections guaranteeing the freedom of the press…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/09/18/g-s1-144112/trump-ban-cnn-msnow-politico-white-house-media

 

Requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms is un-American

The Ten Commandments fight continues.

Families — not politicians — get to decide how kids engage with religion.

Requiring the permanent display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom pressures students to observe and adopt state-endorsed religious teachings. This violates fundamental American values. Religion is deeply personal, and how children are introduced to faith should be left to families and faith communities. 

Mandating a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments on every public school classroom wall crosses a line and it puts the government and school teachers in the role of religious instructors. Americans United, the ACLU, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and ACLU state affiliates are challenging similar laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, and now Texas. And the brave families we represent are speaking out against these harmful displays.

Watch and share these short videos...

https://www.au.org/TenC/

 

RESIST: 4 Ways to Defend Democracy (with Andrew Seidel) (Seth Andrews; The Thinking Atheist podcast on YouTube)

Constitutional attorney Andrew Seidel told a Sarnia, Ontario audience that things in the U.S. are dire, but there are things that all of us can do to resist.

Interview: 

• Audio podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/resist-4-ways-to-defend-democracy-with-andrew-seidel/id412308695?i=1000787160170
• YouTube video: https://youtu.be/L1EoiLBBhuI?si=Fx2c1MtfoBROiKcB

TX Rabbi and his Family Fight 10 Commandments in Public Schools (Americans United for the Separation of Church and State on YouTube)

Public schools are for education, not religious indoctrination. Classrooms are for teaching, not preaching. That’s why families are in court challenging a Texas law that requires all public schools to display a government-selected version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The Fixler family understands that every student has the right to an inclusive education, free from government-imposed religion, and they’re speaking out to protect separation of church and state.

Share their story and learn more at au.org/TenC/

Allies in this Fight:
— AU: au.org/
— ACLU: aclu.org/
— ACLU-Louisiana: laaclu.org/
— ACLU-Texas: aclutx.org/
— FFRF: ffrf.org/

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/mUpAw1ujgFU?si=FCtvsv3PsmU6coWJ

Prosecutorial Indiscretion (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Unjustified podcast)

The Legal Accountability Center filed bar complaints on Tuesday accusing U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and two lieutenants of violating their ethical duties in seeking to charge six Democratic lawmakers.

A federal judge has re-blocked the Trump administration’s executive order curtailing mail in voting after the Supreme Court lifted her previous block last week.

Three journalists dismissed from Stars and Stripes are suing the Pentagon accusing the government of violating their First Amendment rights and asking the courts to stop their termination.

Two election monitors from the Justice Department tried to interview voters and examine voting machines at polling places during Wyoming’s primaries last week, drawing pushback from the state’s Republican governor.

Plus listener questions.
Interview: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prosecutorial-indiscretion/id1317481380?i=1000786786915

Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools | PBS News

In their Supreme Court brief, the families' attorneys argue that the law violates basic First Amendment principles governing the separation of church and state. 

"The question of whether a state may impose scripture on impressionable, captive-audience children — for nearly every hour of every school day, for up to (13) years — implicates the most fundamental guarantees of the First Amendment and our Nation's highest ideals," they wrote...

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/supreme-court-asked-to-review-texas-law-requiring-the-ten-commandments-in-public-schools

 

Anti-ICE protesters accused of being part of antifa found guilty of support for terrorism in Texas

Case was seen as major test of the first amendment and whether the US could use broad anti-terrorism statute to prosecute leftwing protesters…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/13/texas-terrorism-trial

 

 

Christian nationalism threatens First Amendment freedoms: ‘The right to worship how you want’

The Trump administration blurs the lines between church and state resorting to an “ideologically-driven, white, right-wing Christian nationalism,” according to political commentator Roland Martin. “This entire Trump project is about creating tiers of citizens,” explains author Peter Beinart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34qEEaazqJw

 

Fascism in Action (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Unjustified podcast)

The FBI executed a search warrant on the Fulton County Georgia Election Offices with Director of National Intelligence Tusli Gabbard in tow.

Four journalists including Don Lemon were arrested by the Justice Department and charged with conspiracy against rights and threat of force to impede religious freedom.

The US Attorney’s office in Minneapolis is in crisis over concerns that they were being asked to execute orders that went against the department’s mission and best practices.

AG: and members of the Pulitzer Prize Board have sued Donald Trump for documents and communications surrounding the Mueller investigation that are still being kept secret.

Plus listener questions…

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-pniw2-2abeaf01

Top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, offered an opposing statement

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u1ZQjVipRnQ

Trump SLAMMED by GOP Judge Declaring “UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSPIRACY”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uYWN1ReEVU

 

Trump administration prepares sweeping ‘Antifa’ crackdown on leftist networks - The Washington Post

"It's a pretty damn dangerous document," former FBI agent Michael Feinberg, who is now a senior editor at Lawfare, said of Bondi's memorandum. "It's dangerous in the sense that it is directed at a specific ideology, namely the left, without offering much evidence as to why that is necessary. And it's also dangerous in the sense that it's ignoring the lion's share of nihilistic violent extremists." Such acts, which the FBI categorizes as being motivated not by political ideology but by a hatred for society at large, constituted a "large chunk" of current domestic terrorism investigations, FBI Director Kash Patel tolda Senate committee in September. … 

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not convinced. "It is a throwback to McCarthyism and the worst abuses of Hoover's FBI to use federal law enforcement against Americans purely because of their political beliefs or because they disagree with the current president's politics," he said in a statement to The Post…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/12/18/justice-department-fbi-first-amendment-antifa/

Supreme Court appears skeptical of Colorado 'conversion therapy' ban - ABC News

"No court has ever held a law like this implicates the First Amendment," concluded Stevenson. "The law applies only to treatments, that is, only when a licensed professional is delivering clinical care to an individual patient … A state cannot lose its power to regulate the very professionals that it licenses just because they are using words."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-appears-skeptical-colorado-conversion-therapy-ban/story

 

Explainer: Trump’s plans to control the media

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump and his FCC Chairman Brendan Carr getting booed loudly at the latest public meeting where Carr is now trying to destroy free speech and overhaul the ownership rules to allow Trump’s right-wing oligarchs to consolidate ownership and control of all local tv channels and Meiselas interviews former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler who led the FCC under Obama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyF2fyeCseU

The Supreme Court fight over whether gay and trans people can be “cured” | Vox

Are therapists protected by the First Amendment during talk therapy sessions with their clients? And are these free speech protections so robust that they prevent the government from regulating talk therapy to ensure that it does not harm patients or depart from professional standards of care?

 That's the central question in Chiles v. Salazar, which the Supreme Court will hear on October 7. And, while the idea that incompetent or even abusive talk therapists may be immune from regulation altogether may seem extreme, there is a very real chance that this Court will embrace that uncompromising position…

https://www.vox.com/politics/463357/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-chiles-salazar

 

Judge issues blistering opinion against Trump policy to deport pro-Palestinian students

Judge rules non-citizens have the same free speech rights as US citizens under the first amendment…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/30/trump-administration-immigration-palestine

 

Jane Fonda relaunches free speech group started by her father during the McCarthy era | Jane Fonda | The Guardian

"The McCarthy Era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression," Fonda said in a statement. "Those forces have returned. And it is our turn to stand together in defense of our constitutional rights. "

We refuse to stand by and let that happen," she continued. "Free speech and free expression are the inalienable rights of every American of all backgrounds and political beliefs – no matter how liberal or conservative you may be. The ability to criticize, question, protest, and even mock those in power is foundational to what America has always aspired to be."…

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/01/jane-fonda-committee-first-amendment-trump

 

MAGA’s Censorship Hypocrisy (Conspirituality podcast)

MAGA congressman Clay Higgins recently sent a letter to top tech executives demanding subservience when it comes to "acceptable" speech. 

This comes two years after Higgins co-sponsored a bill protecting freedom of speech. Given recent capitulations to the Trump administration by tech CEOs, we shouldn't write off Higgins's aggressive push. Derek and Julian discuss.

Interview: 

https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/brief-maga-censorship-hypocrisy