Speech Is Free But Are The Consequences Worth It?

Speech Is Free But Are The Consequences Worth It?

Trebien Whitehurst
North Carolina A&T State University
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Abstract

Using the First amendment this paper explores the notion that the Supreme court case U.S v

Alvarez allowed for such a figure as President Donald Trump rise to power. Trump frequently

attacked the news media referring to them as “fake news media”, and deemed them enemies of

the American people. His problem with making false or misleading claims. The rise of people

turning to social media for their primary news outlet is also attributed to this. At the end of

Trump’s term he had been acquitted for the second time in his presidency.
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Introduction
The First amendment sys that congress shall make no law respecting an establishing religion, it

protects freedom of speech, the press, the right to assembly, and the right to petition the

government for a redress of grievances. The Supreme court case U.S v Alvarez opened the gates

for one of the most destructive administration America has ever seen. President Trump’s attacks

on the media, the rise of social media consumers, and the protections under the First amendment

led him through a presidency, two impeachment trials, and two acquittals.

United States v. Alvarez

In 2007 Xavier Alvarez, an elected member of a water board in California, identified himself at a

public meeting as a retired U.S Marine who had been wounded in combat many and had received

a Congressional Medal of Honor. “I am a retired Marine of 25 years,” Alvarez said. That claim

and a string of other claims Mr. Alvarez made were false. A recording of Alvarez was obtained

by the FBI and he was then charged by a federal prosecutor with two counts of violating the

Stolen Valor Act. Alvarez’s lawyer argued that the stolen valor act was invalid under the First

amendment, and the case should be dismissed. The United States District Courts for the Central

District of California convicted him, sentencing him to 3 years probation and a $5,000 fine.

Alvarez tried appealing the sentence because it violated his First amendment right and therefore

unlawful. A panel of 3 judges in the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit heard Alvarez’s case,

agreeing 2-1 that his First amendment right was violated and reversed the sentence.

The government then appealed to the Supreme court and was heard. During the trial the judges

posed two questions, what is the harm in lying and if the government can make it a crime for
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lying about a medal then where does it stop. "The trouble is," interjected Justice Stephen Breyer,

that we "can think of 10,000 instances that meet your criteria" for laws that could criminalize

everyday lies.“The core of the First Amendment," observed Justice Sotomayor, is to protect even

offensive speech." In this case, she contended, "we don't think less of the medal ... we're

offended" by the lie. "So outside of the emotional reaction, where's the harm?” (Totenberg, NPR)

The justices ruled in favor of the United State, 2-1 agreeing that the Stolen Valor Act was indeed

constitutional.

Fake News

3 out of 4 adults believes the news routinely reports fake news. (Kirtley, ABA) While a

Gallup/Knight Foundation study found that 42 percent of Republicans consider any news stories

that cast a political group or politician in a negative light to be fake news.” (Kirtley, ABA) The

Fake news phenomenon has affected the media and news corporation in the worst way, their

audience now questions what they say.

The phenomenon did not began with Trump but he is the must prolific user or the term. The

relationship the media and the former president share is a very difficult one. Trump once tweeted

“the FAKE NEWS media, the enemy of the American People” (Kirtley, ABA), Since the day he

stepped foot on the political scene, the media has reported on the former president as they would

anyone else running for office or president. Trump once said “it’s frankly disgusting the press is

able to write whatever it wants to write”

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Before he made that comment he held a rally in Fort Worth, Texas in 2016 saying “I’m going to

open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we

can sue them and win lots of money. We’re going to open up libel laws, and we’re going to have

people sue you like you’ve never gotten sued before” (Kirtley, ABA).

To sue the media for libel one needs three things to prove fault: a journalist or outlet publish

something false about them, proof the journalist or outlet acted deliberately, and the false

statement caused harm. Justice William Brennan said in a decision “that under the First and

Fourteenth Amendments, public officials could prevail in a libel suit only if they were also able

to show not only falsity, but actual malice on the part of the publisher” (Kirtley, ABA).

The Basket of Misinformed

“As of late last year, 18% of U.S. adults say they turn most to social media for political and

election news. That’s lower than the share who use news websites and apps 25%, but about on

par with the percent who say their primary pathway is cable television 16% or local television”

(MJOS, Pew Research). Cell phones and their capabilities have indent peoples lives so much that

18% of American get most of their news from social media platforms. Studies show that people

who lean on social media to provide them their news are less knowledgeable on current events

than others.

Twitter’s policy on speech is very simple, they do not condone hate speech. Zero toleration for

violent threats, incitement, and hateful imagery. The market place of ideas is still massive place
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even with those constraints. Anyone who has a twitter account has access to an unlimited amount

of information. They also can add to the information whether a political announcement, song

lyric, or a lie it can be posted for people to consume.

In the 21st century it is fine for Chiefs of State to us twitter to talk to the people(his people).

Normally Presidents would make speeches or addresses from behind the podium or in the rose

garden. Instead President Trump had tweet storms all hours of the day and night responding to

the “fake news media” or anyone who criticizes them.

30,573 false or misleading claims

A Ted talk says people lie 1-2 times a day. Former President Trump made 30,573 false or

misleading claims via twitter or from behind the podium at the White house. “Trump averaged

about six claims a day in his first year as president, 16 claims day in his second year, 22 claims

day in his third year — and 39 claims a day in his final year. Put another way, it took him 27

months to reach 10,000 claims and another 14 months to reach 20,000. He then exceeded the

30,000 mark less than five months later” (Kesslar, Washington post). These fabrications could

stretch from him claiming that it did not rain during his inauguration to him claiming he in fact

won the 2020 Presidential Election. Trump’s style of politics was surreal, nothing could have

prepared Americans for his administration. The attacks on anyone and everyone, the fight

between him and the media, the consistent support he maintained with his base and party all

important factors to his administration. He willed the power of the Commender and Chief

anyway he chose. “Trump’s penchant for repeating false claims is demonstrated by the fact that
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the Fact Checker database has recorded about 750 instances in which he has repeated a variation

of the same claim at least three times” (Kesslar, Washington Post).

Second Time Acquitted

Written with “incitement of insurrection” Trump was facing an impeachment trial for his speech

at the Save America Rally on January 6th. Trump gave a speech to his supporters saying he was

never conceding, the presidential election was stolen and that Vice-president Pence would stop

the certification. After finding out Pence could not go through with the plan, he told the crowd

that they should march to the capital and cheer on some of the republicans to do what was right.

After the speech the massive crowd of trump supports rushed into the capital completely taking it

over. “If this is not a high crime and misdemeanor against the United States of America then

nothing is, President Trump must be convicted, for the safety and democracy of our people”

Congressman Jaime Raskin said (Levine and Gambino, The Guardian). The democrats were 10

votes shy of banning Trump from ever holding office at any level again. 7 republicans voted a

long side the democrats agreeing that Trumps behavior was criminal. But his speech was

protected by the First amendment. “The House impeached Trump in his final days in office, on

one charge of “incitement of insurrection” of the siege on the US Capitol. He invited supporters

to Washington on the day electoral college votes were being counted, told them to “fight like

hell” and encouraged them to go to the US Capitol, Democrats charged” (Levine and Gambino,

The Guardian).

Conclusion
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The first amendment protects all kind of speech. The ruling of the supreme court case U.S vs

Alvarez uncovered another backdoor in politics. Alternative fact and disregarding the truth

completely. Fake news was an attack on news media by the president simply for doing their job.

As a result a sizable amount of the masses now question the truthfulness of the news being

reported. With the use of social media rising among all ages the amount of adults who rely on

social media for their news on politics has also risen. Social media platforms like Twitter do not

chill speech. The 45th President used Twitter as a mouth piece thought out his one term

attacking, misleading, and inciting fear. This resulted in the long awaited suspension of his

account. His contribution on January 6th 2021 step him up for a second impeachment hearing

this time for inciting an insurrection. All of Trump’s statements made on that day were protected

under free speech.

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Work Citied

Amy Mitchell, M. J. (2020, August 27). Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social

Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable. Retrieved from

https://www.journalism.org/2020/07/30/americans-who-mainly-get-their-news-on-social-media-are-less-

engaged-less-knowledgeable/

Kessler, G. (2021, January 24). Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president.

Nearly half came in his final year. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-fact-

checker-tracked-trump-claims/2021/01/23/ad04b69a-5c1d-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html

Kirtley, J. E. (n.d.). Getting to the Truth: Fake News, Libel Laws, and "Enemies of the American

People". Retrieved from

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-ongoing-

challenge-to-define-free-speech/getting-to-the-truth/

Levine, S., & Gambino, L. (2021, February 14). Donald Trump acquitted in second impeachment

trial. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/13/donald-trump-acquitted-

impeachment-trial

Totenberg, N. (2012, February 22). Is A Lie Just Free Speech, Or Is It A Crime? Retrieved from

https://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147257716/is-a-lie-just-free-speech-or-is-it-a-crime