The Trump administration’s Department of Justice recently attempted to hold former CNN anchor Don Lemon accountable for his role in a disruptive protest inside a St. Paul, Minnesota church. Anti-ICE activists interrupted a worship service, and Lemon was there, camera in hand, livestreaming the chaos and interviewing participants. When federal prosecutors moved to charge him under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, and potentially the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 (a civil rights law prohibiting conspiracies to deprive others of their rights), Lemon and his defenders cried foul.
Lemon’s attorney insisted his client was engaged in “constitutionally protected activity as a journalist,” merely reporting on a newsworthy event. A magistrate judge ultimately declined to approve charges against him.
The broader argument Lemon advances is far more dangerous than the incident itself: that journalists enjoy a special exemption from laws criminalizing interference with others’ civil rights, simply because they are “covering the story.”
This claim is not just wrong; it’s a recipe for rendering key federal civil rights protections meaningless.
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