Dozens of judges have ruled that Donald Trump’s policies illegally stifled free speech, in what legal experts say is an unprecedented rebuke of a president who campaigned on a platform of ending censorship.
Trump accused the Biden administration of an “online censorship regime” after the government tried to halt the spread of false information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election.
He made free speech a central part of his 2024 campaign and, after his return to office, scoffed at so-called “cancel culture” by welcoming politically toxic individuals into the administration, according to Politico.
But despite claiming to champion free speech, federal judges have ruled in an unprecedented 75 cases that Trump’s policies violated the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion, or the press, according to a new analysis by Reuters.
The cases were brought in response to the administration’s efforts to stifle people and groups that opposed Trump’s agenda, according to Reuters.
They included rulings that the administration had illegally detained, deported, and revoked visas of foreign students who supported Palestine; terminated grants to research organizations that refused to adopt the White House’s ideological agenda; retaliated against law firms based on their legal advocacy; and used excessive force against protesters.
Several lawsuits were also filed by media organizations after the administration restricted reporters’ access to the White House and Pentagon.
“The President’s palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech,” wrote Boston-based Judge William Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, in the case involving foreign students.
Professor Timothy Zick of William & Mary Law School told the outlet that no president has taken such sweeping action to suppress free speech since President Woodrow Wilson oversaw thousands of deportations and arrests in the early 20th Century.
The 75 losses were out of 93 total cases brought during Trump’s second term in which judges addressed First Amendment arguments, according to Reuters.
The administration appealed about two-thirds of the cases, with several of the rulings put on hold while the legal proceedings play out.
Most of Trump’s losses were handed down by judges appointed by Democratic presidents, but 10 of the cases were heard by Republican appointees.
During President Joe Biden’s term, the courts weighed in on just 27 cases involving First Amendment challenges—most of them involving vaccine mandates—and ruled against the administration in 13 cases.
Trump officials have repeatedly accused judges who rule against the administration of being “activists” interfering with the president’s authority.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Reuters in a statement that the First Amendment rulings were an example of the federal judiciary “repeatedly endangering and obstructing the election choices of the American people with its unlawful rulings.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.
