The First Amendment is what protects most ideas of self-expression. Any person is able to use this right, no matter the age or race. The First Amendment protects a person’s right to religion, free speech, peaceful protest, and publication of the press.
This Amendment is important for many reasons. Government facilities, such as schools, public transportation, or police departments cannot prevent a person from spreading ideas that the government does not agree with. While the First Amendment protects the people from government censorship in most locations, private organizations can set up personal guidelines that prevent this Amendment from fully protecting a person’s right of speech.
An example could be signing an agreement with a person’s work that prevents them from outright practicing their religion in the working space. While at home, the person is allowed to do it, but because they had signed an agreement with their work, it prevents them from practicing their religion while at work.
A person does not have to be a certain age to use this right. It is an inherent privilege that is given to anyone in the United States. Even if a person is not a documented citizen, once they are on American soil, they have the ability for freedom of speech, press, religion, and protest.
Most often, this right is exercised on sidewalks, public streets, and parks. Some examples of the First Amendment being used could be: peaceful protests in formal settings or outside, not participating in the pledge of allegiance, or wearing certain articles of clothing to protest immigrants coming into the country.
During President Trump’s campaign for his second presidency, he declared himself as a fighter for free speech. For his first acts in office, he signed one large executive order that had to be separated into four different parts for it to be effective in protecting the First Amendment and its uses. During President Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 24, 2025, he claimed that he “brought free speech back to America”.
Despite this, President Trump is being faced with disapproval and questioning by the people of the United States due to his recent actions with news companies and his deportation program.
When President Trump had changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the Associated Press had chosen not to fully acknowledge the change in their future pieces they posted. While they mention the name in their pieces specifically meant for the people of the United States, they refer to the over 400 year old title instead for those outside of the U.S. borders. This is due to their policy that they’ve had since becoming a world news agency.
However, due to AP’s policy, President Trump had banned them from coming to the White House for interview questions during press conferences and joint addresses where the attendance is tight and not all news companies can come. President Trump had claimed that AP was breaking the law, however, no law was created to deny their usage of The Gulf of Mexico.
Barring the Associated Press from asking interview questions during White House events, they had tried to sue President Trump for their rights back from going into the White House and participating. Their first trial led to a success for the Trump Administration, but the judge who was in charge of the trial had asked them to reconsider before fully committing to their choices. They have a second trial date planned for later in April.
On top of President Trump’s Administration and AP’s legal fight, President Trump had also decided to sue other news companies. Some for example may include CBS, ABC, and NBC.
The large issue at hand isn’t just the fact that he obstructed the Associated Press from coming into the White house, but that President Trump is suing them over their right to use a title that is recognized world wide versus solely in the United States.
On top of this, he is also claiming that these different news sources are also spreading “fake news”, which is only inflaming the criticism he has been facing since taking office.
His deportation protocols that he had promised during his campaign also faced a lot of scrutiny as of lately.
On March 8, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegally arrested Mahmoud Khalil. He had called himself a “political prisoner” in a letter that had gone public while he was in a detention center in Louisiana.
Before his arrest, he was walking home from a dinner date with his pregnant wife. The police had taken him then, refusing to answer his wife where they were taking him. Every time she had specifically asked around, no one had given her the right answer for a few weeks. It wasn’t until Khalil had arrived in Louisiana that she found out.
Mahmoud Khalil was an important figurehead for the widespread of Israelite protests that were occurring throughout the colleges and universities in the United States. College students would buy camping gear and set up tents on the school yards for their form of protest.
His lawyer, on top of using Khalil’s claim of being a political prisoner, had also used the fact that President Trump had also arrested him under charges of abusing his First Amendment Rights during his protest responsibilities.
According to the police who were called in to observe the protest, they had claimed that the student protesters had listened to them and weren’t breaking any laws that called for arrests to be made. However, the arrest was still made, with more underway.
The First Amendment is one of the most fickle human rights that leads to the most conflicts in our society. It doesn’t matter if a person is sharing their own opinions about a topic, or practicing their religion. Someone can still see it as a threat based on their perspectives.
A person should always have the right to speak their opinion, or practice their own beliefs. However, in a society controlled by fear and perspective, the First Amendment faces a great quantity of trials and hardship. It is important to recognize that everyone, no matter the age, race, or sex, has the same freedoms as everyone else.
