Former President Donald Trump during a trial in New York on Tuesday. A judge in a different case — happening in Washington, D.C. — issued a limited gag order that the ACLU said sweeps too broadly in restraining Trump’s speech.
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The American Civil Liberties Union sued former President Donald Trump or his administration more than 400 times during his tenure in the White House.
But now the ACLU is siding with Trump in the criminal case that charges he conspired to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power — telling a judge that a gag order she’s imposed sweeps too broadly in restraining Trump’s speech.
“[I]f we allow his free speech rights to be abridged, we know that other unpopular voices — even ones we agree with — will also be silenced,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “As much as we disagreed with Donald Trump’s policies, everyone is entitled to the same First Amendment protection against gag orders that are too broad and too vague.”
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a limited gag order on Trump, barring him from making inflammatory remarks about special counsel Jack Smith and his team, court employees, and likely witnesses in the federal election interference case against him in Washington, D.C.
“Undisputed testimony cited by the government demonstrates that when Defendant has publicly attacked individuals, including on matters related to this case, those individuals are consequently threatened and harassed,” the judge wrote.
But in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Wednesday, the ACLU said voters have a right to hear what Trump…
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