Noah Feldman, Columnist

Trump and Barr Violated Free Speech for a Photo Op

Black Lives Matter and tear-gassed protesters are right to sue the government for stepping on their constitutional rights.

June 8, 2020 at 1:30 PM UTC

By Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Lafayette Square on June 1, before President Trump’s walk. — Lafayette Square on June 1, before President Trump’s walk.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images/AFP

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Did President Donald Trump’s administration violate the First Amendment on June 1 when various police and other security forces tear gassed peaceful demonstrators in Lafayette Square park so the president could walk to St. John’s Church for a photo op? That is the central question in a lawsuit brought over the weekend by the Washington, D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter and a number of individual protesters.

The answer is almost certainly yes. And the lawsuit is extremely important, not because the plaintiffs will necessarily prevail, but because it is the best and maybe only way to prevent such a blatant constitutional violation from happening again just steps from the White House.