WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed an amicus brief with Stone Hilton PLLC Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in United States v. Donald J. Trump, et al., to defend President Donald J. Trump’s constitutionally protected right to free speech and prevent Special Counsel Jack Smith from obtaining an unlawful gag order.
In the brief, AFL argues the following:
Like other prior restraints, gag orders are incompatible with the First Amendment and have long been disfavored by courts.
Since the Founding of the American republic, freedom of speech has been the bedrock of the American identity and is essential to the functioning of a free society. President Trump, as a current presidential candidate, has a unique role in informing the public and contributing to public debate. Preventing him from speaking freely stifles the entire American political system.
Restricting a presidential candidate’s freedom to speak on political matters is a particularly grave intrusion on the Framers’ design.
The Founding Fathers were particularly concerned about preserving the democratic function of society by ensuring that matters of politics and government would be the subject of popular debate. Candidates for national office must be allowed to engage in the purest form of expression. Any restrictions on their speech are an infringement on the American electoral system at large.
The government cannot overcome constitutional restrictions on prior restraints, let alone impose conditions to infringe President Trump’s First Amendment rights on asserted safety or prejudice grounds.
The government has not made the necessary showings concerning safety to satisfy the statutory conditions necessary to impose conditions of release. President Trump has not engaged in speech that incites violence.
America First Legal’s brief highlights the inherent problem with gagging political speech on controversial topics to “maintain order.” The Court should reject Special Counsel Jack Smith’s politically-motivated and unlawful gag order.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director:
“Jack Smith and the Biden Department of Justice are engaged in an unprecedented attack on essential freedoms in the United States. Their desire to engage in court-sanctioned censorship of Donald Trump is dangerous and inconsistent with the history of the First Amendment–and sadly consistent with the Biden Administration’s broader campaign of destruction of the right to speak freely in the United States. There is no evidence that President Trump has sought to hamper the impartiality of the jury or incite violence. He is a political candidate whose rights to speak and protest are especially acute given his belief he is the target of a politicized prosecution.“ said Gene Hamilton.
Read the brief here.
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