Stanford student newspaper sues Trump administration over alleged free speech violation
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Stanford Daily and two unidentified students said in a lawsuit that foreign students at the university have refused to write about the Middle East conflict out of fear.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
PALO ALTO – Stanford University’s student newspaper sued the Trump administration on Aug 6, arguing it has violated the free-speech rights of foreign students by threatening to deport them for writing stories that it considers “anti-American or anti-Israel”.
The Stanford Daily and two unidentified students said in the lawsuit – filed in federal court in California against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem – that foreign students at the Palo Alto, California, school have refused to write about the conflict in the Middle East for fear they could be arrested, detained and deported.
“This pall of fear is incompatible with American liberty,” the lawsuit said.
“Our First Amendment stands as a bulwark against the government infringing the inalienable human right to think and speak for yourself.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stanford Daily’s attorney Conor Fitzpatrick, in a statement, said: “In the United States of America, no one should fear a midnight knock on the door for voicing the wrong opinion.”
A spokesperson for the university said the newspaper is an independent organisation and that the school is not part of the lawsuit.
The Trump administration has attempted to deport students who have expressed pro-Palestinian views, calling them anti-Semitic and extremist sympathisers whose presence in the country was adverse to US foreign policy.
Protesters say that the government wrongly conflates their criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza and advocacy for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and extremism.
Judges have ordered the release of some students who the administration arrested and detained without being charged with a crime.
The Stanford Daily said in its lawsuit that the administration has caused its foreign writers to self-censor to avoid being targeted.
It argued that the administration’s threats prevent them from “engaging in protected expression like attending protests, using certain slogans and publicly voicing their true views about American foreign policy, Israel and Palestine”.
The newspaper asked the court to rule that the US Constitution prevents the government from deporting non-citizens for engaging in free speech. REUTERS
