Judiciary Democrats Hold First Amendment Spotlight Hearing on the Trump Administration’s Un-American Censorship Campaign

February 24, 2026

Washington, D.C. (February 24, 2026)— Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government, led a Democratic spotlight hearing examining the Trump Administration’s assault on free speech and attempts to censor Americans.

The hearing featured testimony from: Lee Rowland, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Censorship; Gabe Rottman, the Vice President of Policy at the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of Press; Bess Kalb, a former writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! and New York Times bestselling author; and Rachel Goodman, Special Counsel and Free Expression Program Lead at Protect Democracy.

The Trump Administration’s attack on First Amendment rights is dangerous and wide-ranging.

Ranking Member Raskin said: “The central purpose of the First Amendment is to safeguard speech, assembly and protest for the purposes of democratic self-government and nonviolent political change. But Trump and MAGA have built a masked paramilitary force in ICE and unleashed it along with CBP agents to harass, attack, arrest and even kill Americans simply for exercising their First Amendment rights to record and protest government actions in the public space.”
Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon said: “The Administration is labeling people who disagree with the president’s policies as domestic terrorists, putting their names on secret government lists, and demanding that tech companies hand over the identities of Americans who organize or share their dissenting opinions online.”
Rep. Hank Johnson said: “An engaged and informed citizenry scares the hell out of the Trump Administration and so they have responded by physically attacking and assaulting peaceful protestors.”
Rep. Becca Balint said: “Trump does not respect the rule of law [...] and he certainly doesn’t care about protecting our First Amendment rights. We have all touched on it in some way already in this hearing—you have an authoritarian pattern that is so clear here.”
Rep. Chuy García said: “Authoritarians like Trump know their policies are deeply unpopular so they depend on the suppression of speech and dissent to violently assert their fascist agenda. That’s why as Trump has become one of the most unpopular presidents in history, he has escalated his campaign of oppression against our communities.”

Americans are fighting back against the Trump Administration’s authoritarian regime.

Ranking Member Raskin said: “All of these attacks on freedom, democracy, the rule of law, the right to assemble, the right to petition for redress of grievances, the right to free press, all of them have kickstarted an equal and opposite reaction. Millions of people are standing up for the freedom of speech across the country, for the rights of people to protest, for the rights of the press to do their jobs unimpeded and unintimidated. The people of Minneapolis have shown us the way by engaging in collective solidarity and mutual self-help to challenge authoritarianism, and millions of Americans have been participating in the No Kings protests across the country and are getting ready for another one coming up at the end of March. And, an astounding 3 million people cancelled their Disney and Hulu subscriptions after ABC, under pressure from Trump and his FCC chair Brennan Carr, suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
Ranking Member Scanlon said: “Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and to petition our government: these are the constitutional pillars upon which our country was built. And they’re values that continue to define our American way. But we can’t take them for granted. If we want them to endure, we need to believe in them and fight for them.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal said: “Courage is contagious and I think that is part of what we have to train Americans across the country to recognize is that it is a fearful time but courage is acting when you are afraid, not when there is an absence of fear and that that is what we need every American to be doing right now in whatever way they can.”