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A review of court cases finds that the Trump administration has been challenged dozens of times for violations of multiple First Amendment protections since January 2025, losing in 8 out of every 10 instances in district federal courts across the country.
According to a report from Reuters, which conducted the review, there have been 93 challenges to actions taken by the White House since President Donald Trump’s second term began. Of those cases, 75 have resulted in rulings against the administration.
The challenges — and losses — are extraordinarily high. For comparison, during the four years of the Biden administration, there were 27 First Amendment challenges at the district court level, only 13 of which resulted in rulings against the White House, Reuters reported.
The challenges included claims that the Trump administration had infringed on free speech, religious freedom, and press protections within the First Amendment, which reads, in full, that:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Trump administration did challenge some of their district court losses, appealing to higher federal courts for them to be overturned. In total, Reuters found that 15 of the 75 cases that went against the administration were either reversed or received a temporary injunction. Still, that means that 60 of the 93 First Amendment challenges remained intact.
Trump frequently campaigned on the idea that he’d be a protector of free speech and religious freedoms. He’s also championed himself as a supporter of a free and open press.
In practice, his “protections” have been highly selective, and he has used his powers as president to intimidate those he perceives as enemies.
Trump’s view of religious freedom, for example, seems to extend only to Christian Trump supporters who seek to embed their far right beliefs within the government — what critics have described as Christian nationalism. Trump appears to have fully embraced this view, particularly since some of these followers view him as a figure sent by God.
Trump’s attacks on the press have also been numerous, and have included:
- Smearing female journalists by using misogyny and name-calling when they challenge his narratives;
- Using the investigatory powers of the Justice Department to examine phone records of journalists and their family members;
- And floating the idea of filing treason charges against journalists over their accurate reporting on the Iran War; among many other attacks on the press.
Trump’s “defense” of free speech has also had a narrow focus — protecting the rights of conservatives while seeking to limit the rights of anyone espousing leftist views. Indeed, last fall, the president even bragged that he “took the freedom of speech away” from people demonstrating against his administration.
In response to Trump’s executive order last year following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which had sought to crack down on leftists and Trump’s political opponents, a coalition of more than 3,700 nonprofit organizations signed an open letter condemning the administration for limiting their speech rights.
“No president – Democrat or Republican – should have the power to punish nonprofit organizations simply because he disagrees with them,” that letter said, noting that Trump’s order was “not about protecting Americans or defending the public interest,” but instead “about using unchecked power to silence opposition and voices he disagrees with.”
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