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Monday, October 16, 2023

In a Technical Sense She is Right....

But free speech doctrine is about to get bent badly out of shape.  10/16/23 CNN:
CNN — A federal judge on Monday issued a gag order on former President Donald Trump, limiting what he can say about special counsel Jack Smith’s federal prosecution into his alleged attempt to subvert in the 2020 presidential election.

The order restricts Trump’s ability to publicly target court personnel, potential witnesses, or the special counsel and his staff. The order did not impose restrictions on disparaging comments about Washington, DC, – where the jury will take place – or certain comments about the Justice Department at large, both of which the government requested.

There is certainly a case that speech that incites violence against prosecutors, witnesses, or judge is not protected speech.

But what qualifies as such?  Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) severely limited the definition of incitement.  It is hard to fit anything Trump says on social media into the narrow definition imposed by Brandenburg.

The goal seems to be to intimidate Trump from doing what he does best: campaigning by appealing to the "forgotten man." That DOJ attempted to prohibit him from disparaging D.C. or the DOJ just shows how fascist this government has become.  D.C. disparages itself by existing.


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