{"id":142277,"date":"2026-01-20T18:11:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/20\/federal-judge-accuses-trump-team-of-conspiring-against-the-first-amendment-doj-shrugs\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T18:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:11:03","slug":"federal-judge-accuses-trump-team-of-conspiring-against-the-first-amendment-doj-shrugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/20\/federal-judge-accuses-trump-team-of-conspiring-against-the-first-amendment-doj-shrugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Accuses Trump Team Of Conspiring Against The First Amendment, DOJ Shrugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reagan-appointed, 84-year-old U.S. District Judge William Young has had just about enough of the Trump administration\u2019s First Amendment nonsense and let that displeasure be known with some rhetorical violence. According to reporting<\/a> from the Washington Post, last week at a hearing, Judge Young let loose at the administration\u2019s attorneys. Because nothing says liberal firebrand like \u201cReagan-appointee,\u201d I guess.<\/p>\n

In a case brought by five academic organizations on behalf of international students who protested in support of Palestine who alleged that the government retaliated against them by targeting their immigration status, Judge Young didn\u2019t bother with euphemisms. He called the president an \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d accused the administration of engaging in an \u201cunconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people,\u201d and said the government has excluded \u201cfrom participation everyone who doesn\u2019t agree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking straight here,\u201d Young said, \u201cthe big problem in this case is that the Cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment.\u201d Then he turned his fire directly on Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio: \u201cThese cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young went even harder, saying: \u201cI find it breathtaking that I have been compelled on the evidence to find the conduct of such high-level officers of our government \u2014 cabinet secretaries \u2014 conspired to infringe the First Amendment rights of people with such rights here in the United States.\u201d That is not the language of mild concern. That is the language of a judge who thinks the executive branch is playing Calvinball with the Constitution.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Young let MAGA-ttorneys have it in this case.<\/a> He\u2019s previously likened some of the administration\u2019s moves to the tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, which gives you a real sense of just how much Young thinks the federal government has gone off the rails. <\/p>\n

Despite the pretty devastating benchslap, the Department of Justice took an aggressive approach with Young. At the hearing, DOJ attorney Paul Stone tried the bold strategy of arguing that \u201cthere isn\u2019t any remedy that the court can offer.\u201d Judge Young responded exactly like someone who has been doing this job since the mid-80s, \u201cYou\u2019re telling me there is no remedy!?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the only real question left is whether the ruling that comes later this week matches the tone of the hearing, if so, that\u2019ll be appointment reading.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Accuses Trump Team Of Conspiring Against The First Amendment, DOJ Shrugs<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reagan-appointed, 84-year-old U.S. District Judge William Young has had just about enough of the Trump administration\u2019s First Amendment nonsense and let that displeasure be known with some rhetorical violence. According to reporting<\/a> from the Washington Post, last week at a hearing, Judge Young let loose at the administration\u2019s attorneys. Because nothing says liberal firebrand like \u201cReagan-appointee,\u201d I guess.<\/p>\n

In a case brought by five academic organizations on behalf of international students who protested in support of Palestine who alleged that the government retaliated against them by targeting their immigration status, Judge Young didn\u2019t bother with euphemisms. He called the president an \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d accused the administration of engaging in an \u201cunconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people,\u201d and said the government has excluded \u201cfrom participation everyone who doesn\u2019t agree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking straight here,\u201d Young said, \u201cthe big problem in this case is that the Cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment.\u201d Then he turned his fire directly on Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio: \u201cThese cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young went even harder, saying: \u201cI find it breathtaking that I have been compelled on the evidence to find the conduct of such high-level officers of our government \u2014 cabinet secretaries \u2014 conspired to infringe the First Amendment rights of people with such rights here in the United States.\u201d That is not the language of mild concern. That is the language of a judge who thinks the executive branch is playing Calvinball with the Constitution.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Young let MAGA-ttorneys have it in this case.<\/a> He\u2019s previously likened some of the administration\u2019s moves to the tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, which gives you a real sense of just how much Young thinks the federal government has gone off the rails. <\/p>\n

Despite the pretty devastating benchslap, the Department of Justice took an aggressive approach with Young. At the hearing, DOJ attorney Paul Stone tried the bold strategy of arguing that \u201cthere isn\u2019t any remedy that the court can offer.\u201d Judge Young responded exactly like someone who has been doing this job since the mid-80s, \u201cYou\u2019re telling me there is no remedy!?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the only real question left is whether the ruling that comes later this week matches the tone of the hearing, if so, that\u2019ll be appointment reading.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Accuses Trump Team Of Conspiring Against The First Amendment, DOJ Shrugs<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reagan-appointed, 84-year-old U.S. District Judge William Young has had just about enough of the Trump administration\u2019s First Amendment nonsense and let that displeasure be known with some rhetorical violence. According to reporting from the Washington Post, last week at a hearing, Judge Young let loose at the administration\u2019s attorneys. Because nothing says liberal firebrand like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-DdJZb8.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}