Can protesting in the US be ‘illegal’? Trump’s vague warning raises constitutional questions

The ambiguity of the president’s warning could pave the way for lawsuits. It also could be damaging, critics say, if it has the effect of stifling freedom of speech, among the nation’s most fundamental and heralded rights.

Among the hundreds of social media posts President Donald Trump has put out since Inauguration Day, two words have gotten special attention: “illegal protests.” “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” he wrote in a March 4 Truth Social post. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.” The nation’s new education secretary this week further parsed the administration’s message about protests on American campuses: “This is not a freedom of speech issue,” Linda McMahon told CNBC on Tuesday. “This is a safety and civil rights issue.” As with other First Amendment guarantees, judges have for decades ruled that the right to protest is not unlimited. Trump’s defenders acknowledge it’s not entirely clear how he intends to define “illegal protest.” And the White House has not responded to CNN’s requests for specifics on what protests it would classify as illegal. The ambiguity of the president’s warning could pave the way for lawsuits. It also could be damaging, critics say, if it has the effect of stifling freedom of speech, among the nation’s most fundamental and heralded rights.