The First Amendment Constitutional Crisis Is Here
First Amendment expert Jameel Jaffer on why this is a break-the-glass moment for press freedom in America.
UK Banter Surprise$UKBS
Trump banned three news outlets from the White House. Then something unprecedented happened.
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President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was banning CNN, Politico, and MSNow from the White House because he didn’t like their coverage. Within days, a federal judge ordered the outlets be reinstated—but the White House dragged its feet. Hours later, reporters were still locked out and a state dinner with President Xi of China went ahead without them. Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute joins Dahlia Lithwick to explain the First Amendment and due-process arguments at the heart of the case, why the administration’s national security justification fell apart in court, and what it means when a president seems indifferent to judicial orders.
Together, they trace the broader pattern of press intimidation, including this administration’s recent bans on the Associated Press and on Pentagon reporters. And, they discuss something new: news organizations standing together in solidarity for the first time, and why Jaffer thinks we’re already living in an authoritarian moment—whether we’ve noticed or not.
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A show about the law and the nine Supreme Court justices who interpret it for the rest of America.
Dahlia Lithwick writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus .