How Each Pillar of the 1st Amendment is Under Attack -- Brian Krebs

[erronis]

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/03/how-each-pillar-of-the-1st-amendment-is-under-attack/

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” -U.S. Constitution, First Amendment.

In an address to Congress this month, President Trump claimed he had “brought free speech back to America.” But barely two months into his second term, the president has waged an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment rights of journalists, students, universities, government workers, lawyers and judges.

This story explores a slew of recent actions by the Trump administration that threaten to undermine all five pillars of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedoms concerning speech, religion, the media, the right to assembly, and the right to petition the government and seek redress for wrongs.

THE RIGHT TO PETITION

The right to petition allows citizens to communicate with the government, whether to complain, request action, or share viewpoints — without fear of reprisal. But that right is being assaulted by this administration on multiple levels. For starters, many GOP lawmakers are now heeding their leadership’s advice to stay away from local town hall meetings and avoid the wrath of constituents affected by the administration’s many federal budget and workforce cuts.

Another example: President Trump recently fired most of the people involved in processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for government agencies. FOIA is an indispensable tool used by journalists and the public to request government records, and to hold leaders accountable.

. . .

Brian goes on to list the other clauses that are under attack by this regime:

Freedom of Assembly
Freedom of the Press
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion

Brian Krebs is a noted security researcher who has been personally under attack by antagonistic forces that are exposed by his work.

[erronis]

1. First few comments to Brian Krebs post:

“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.” — John Stuart Mill, 1867

If people can’t understand that things like rule of law and government stability are inherently related to security, I don’t know what they’re doing reading a blog about security in the first place. If people can’t understand that there’s a connection between what the Trump administration is doing and the foreign information operations against the US public for the past few decades, it’s clear that they have not been reading this blog at all.

Great factual article, Brain. Thank you. We IT professionals also have a private life, family and friends and therefore also have opinions about what’s going on in this country or anywhere else for that matter. We are still humans and not AI generated people. I learned years ago that the ones who profess to be apolitical are usually the ones situated on the right political spectrum. One can clearly see that from some of the comments here. Let them go. The rest of us are still going to read your well-researched writings.