Post by Webster on Jun 19, 2020 11:23:17 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The writers’ organisation Pen America has filed an amicus brief opposing the lawsuit brought by the Trump organisation in an attempt to stop the publication of a book by John Bolton, the president’s third national security adviser.
“Pen America supports the first amendment right of public employees to produce works that are critical of the government, and of readers to receive their unique perspective unfettered by government censorship,” the brief said.
Excerpts of Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened, have been widely published in the US media since the Department of Justice filed its suit in a federal court in Washington DC.
The excerpts have proved tremendously embarrassing to Trump, detailing what Bolton says is impeachable conduct, for example in asking China to help secure his re-election, and in depicting a president ignorant of basic geopolitical realities.
Bolton told ABC News on Thursday Trump is not “fit for office” and does not have “the competence to carry out the job”. An extensive interview is due to run on ABC on Sunday night. The book is due in stores on Tuesday, 23 June.
Trump has abused Bolton as a “wacko” who nobody liked, claiming his claims are untrue but also that his book should be suppressed as it betrays classified information.
Publisher Simon & Schuster and lawyers for Bolton have countered that all classified information was removed from the book in co-ordination with the administration. Some such information has since been leaked.
The Pen brief notes the vetting process and says: “It is not difficult to see what is going on. The president is employing the apparatus of the federal government to punish his political enemies, thwart freedom of speech, and pursue his political interests in an election year.”
In Washington, district cour judge Royce Lamberth will hear the DoJ’s case at 1pm today.
In a statement, Nora Benavidez, Pen America’s director of US free expression programmes, said: “A free society cannot abide the government silencing certain perspectives before they are even uttered; such censorship runs contrary to the very notion of what our first amendment was written to guard against. Any result other than dismissal in this case will be an affront to Bolton’s first amendment right to speak and to all of our rights as members of the public and as readers to learn about his views.
“We know the president has a penchant for lobbing attacks at those whose commentary he wants to suppress. It’s why we sued President Trump in 2018, as he has engaged in an unconstitutional pattern of targeting reporters whose coverage he dislikes. We’ll continue to fight these censorship tactics for our writer Members and their readers.”
Bolton also details comments by Trump in which the president said some reporters should be imprisoned or executed.
Most observers do not expect the administration to successfully block Bolton’s book. The attorney Ted Boutros, who worked on the brief on a pro bono basis, said: “The supreme court has never upheld a prior restraint on speech about matters of public concern, nor should the district court do so in this case.”
Trump books have become big business, ever since the publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury in January 2018. Then, after the Guardian published excerpts, the president threatened to go to court to prevent publication. Publisher Henry Holt & Co responded by rushing the book to stores.
“Pen America supports the first amendment right of public employees to produce works that are critical of the government, and of readers to receive their unique perspective unfettered by government censorship,” the brief said.
Excerpts of Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened, have been widely published in the US media since the Department of Justice filed its suit in a federal court in Washington DC.
The excerpts have proved tremendously embarrassing to Trump, detailing what Bolton says is impeachable conduct, for example in asking China to help secure his re-election, and in depicting a president ignorant of basic geopolitical realities.
Bolton told ABC News on Thursday Trump is not “fit for office” and does not have “the competence to carry out the job”. An extensive interview is due to run on ABC on Sunday night. The book is due in stores on Tuesday, 23 June.
Trump has abused Bolton as a “wacko” who nobody liked, claiming his claims are untrue but also that his book should be suppressed as it betrays classified information.
Publisher Simon & Schuster and lawyers for Bolton have countered that all classified information was removed from the book in co-ordination with the administration. Some such information has since been leaked.
The Pen brief notes the vetting process and says: “It is not difficult to see what is going on. The president is employing the apparatus of the federal government to punish his political enemies, thwart freedom of speech, and pursue his political interests in an election year.”
In Washington, district cour judge Royce Lamberth will hear the DoJ’s case at 1pm today.
In a statement, Nora Benavidez, Pen America’s director of US free expression programmes, said: “A free society cannot abide the government silencing certain perspectives before they are even uttered; such censorship runs contrary to the very notion of what our first amendment was written to guard against. Any result other than dismissal in this case will be an affront to Bolton’s first amendment right to speak and to all of our rights as members of the public and as readers to learn about his views.
“We know the president has a penchant for lobbing attacks at those whose commentary he wants to suppress. It’s why we sued President Trump in 2018, as he has engaged in an unconstitutional pattern of targeting reporters whose coverage he dislikes. We’ll continue to fight these censorship tactics for our writer Members and their readers.”
Bolton also details comments by Trump in which the president said some reporters should be imprisoned or executed.
Most observers do not expect the administration to successfully block Bolton’s book. The attorney Ted Boutros, who worked on the brief on a pro bono basis, said: “The supreme court has never upheld a prior restraint on speech about matters of public concern, nor should the district court do so in this case.”
Trump books have become big business, ever since the publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury in January 2018. Then, after the Guardian published excerpts, the president threatened to go to court to prevent publication. Publisher Henry Holt & Co responded by rushing the book to stores.