1st Amendment

This week’s question comes from Zaid in Fremont: “Donald Trump denigrates and incites violence against Muslim Americans including threatening to make them all register. He speaks of nuking the Middle East. Trump even offered to pay the legal bills for anyone that attacks protestors at his rallies. Isn’t this hate speech? Is Trump responsible in any way when someone acts on his threats or statements and attacks a protester?”

Thank you Zaid for your timely and important questions.

I remember that not long after 9/11, then President George W. Bush sought to combat a spike in hate crimes against Muslim Americans by visiting a mosque and declaring, “America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country.” The President added, “And they need to be treated with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.”

Matt G. from San Francisco asks: “I’ve been following the 2016 Presidential election process, both parties, all candidates. I have heard candidates say that protestors at their rallies are trampling on the First Amendment free speech rights of their supporters who also attend those rallies. Doesn’t the First Amendment also protect an individual’s right to protest?”

The short answer is yes, it does. Recently people have misinterpreted the right to express themselves however they want to politically as the right to do so without being subjected to anyone who disagrees with them or holds differing opinions. The right to free speech is sacred in this country. But so is the right to protest, one of the significant motivations behind having First Amendment protections in the first place.