WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union sided with former President Donald Trump this week in a brief arguing the partial gag order a federal judge imposed in his election fraud case was “overbroad and underexplained.”
The 18-page brief, filed by attorneys on behalf of the ACLU and its D.C. chapter, argues U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan’s order barring Trump from speaking publicly about the Special Counsel’s office, court staff or witnesses in his case violates his First Amendment rights to free speech. Chutkan temporarily stayed her order last week to allow Trump’s attorneys to present additional arguments against it.
The ACLU was a frequent opponent during Trump’s time in office. The human rights organization sued his administration hundreds of times over alleged violations of constitutional rights, including in a suit arguing Trump, his Attorney General Bill Barr and numerous other federal officials unconstitutionally used tear gas, rubber bullets and other crowd control mechanisms to disperse a crowd of lawful protesters from Lafayette Square in D.C. during the summer of 2020.
On Wednesday, however, the ACLU came to Trump’s defense – saying the gag order in his case went too far in its effort to prevent him from tampering with witnesses or potential jurors.
“Much that [Trump] has said has been patently false and has caused great harm to countless individuals, as well as to the Republic itself. Some of his words and actions have led him to this criminal indictment, which alleges grave wrongdoing in contempt of the peaceful transition of power,” the ACLU wrote. “But Trump retains a First Amendment right to speak, and the rest of us retain a right to hear what he has to say.”
Chutkan’s gag order is the second imposed on Trump in the last month. A New York judge overseeing Trump’s civil business fraud trial fined him $5,000 and ordered him not to speak publicly about court staff after he reposted a picture of the judge’s law clerk on social media. On Wednesday, the judge again fined him, this time $10,000, for making a speech outside the courtroom that violated his order.
Federal prosecutors with the Special Counsel’s office had until Wednesday to respond to Trump’s motion for a stay on his gag order while he appeals to the D.C. Circuit. Trump’s attorneys will then have three days to file any additional replies.