Noah Feldman, Columnist

The Guy in the Bully Pulpit Can't Be a Bully

The Constitution doesn't allow Trump to use the IRS to punish the NFL over player protests. It's a free-speech thing.

October 11, 2017 at 6:35 PM UTC

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."

At least these guys know what the First Amendment says.
Photographer: Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

President Donald Trump can’t carry out his threat to take away the National Football League’s tax-exempt status aimed at making the league force players to stand for the national anthem. That would be a clear violation of the First Amendment.

It’s true that the NFL had voluntarily given up its tax break two years ago, which means that Trump’s threat wouldn’t have practical effect even if he could make it stick. But as the Supreme Court recently held, even an effort to violate free speech based on a factual mistake is illegal.