The apparent death of the PRESS Act in Congress should alarm Americans on two levels.
After this bill unanimously passed a Republican-controlled House — a testament to its commonsense defense of First Amendment principles that protect Americans of all political persuasions — all it took to ensure its demise in the Senate was a one-line social media post from the president-elect: “REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!”
Trump has been blunt in voicing his disdain for the free press throughout his decade on the national political stage.
And it wasn’t just talk. Trump, obsessed with plugging leaks to the media during his first term as president, ordered the secret seizure of private communications by journalists at The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other news outlets. When that activity later came to light, the Biden administration’s Justice Department banned prosecutors from using such heavy-handed tactics.
The PRESS Act would codify those limitations in federal law so future administrations couldn’t just discard them.
It would impose specific restrictions on the government’s power to seize private data from journalists or force them to reveal sources.
Although the act’s creation stems from Trump’s anti-press abuses, the measure found deep support from congressional conservative. Key proponents have included such stalwart Trump supporters as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The measure unanimously passed the House in January. Its passage in the Senate was widely viewed as similarly assured. That is, until last Wednesday, when Trump took to his social media platform.
Trump’s one-line, capitalized decree alongside the link didn’t bother with any discussion of why the Senate should kill the bill.
It wasn’t a debate or even the airing of an opinion; it was a summary order from an incoming president to a supposedly co-equal branch of government.
And that’s all it took. The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., issued a statement the next day saying, “It’s clear we have work to do to achieve consensus on this issue” — as if the overwhelming consensus of a unanimous House vote now means nothing.
As a practical matter, Trump’s opposition does, in fact, kill the measure, despite the fact that he’s not even in office yet and despite the previous bipartisan support for the bill.
That’s not the way America’s system of government is supposed to work.
It’s reminiscent of how Trump summarily killed border reform earlier this year because he wanted a campaign issue rather than a solution. Then, as now, congressional Republicans turned their backs to do Trump’s self-focused bidding.
Trump has been blunt about his plans to attack the free press in his second term, which, he has said, could include going after the broadcast licenses of news organizations and even jailing journalists. Those who would shrug off such threats as typical Trumpian bluster should consider that, even prior to taking office, he is able to lay the groundwork for such attacks with a mere social media post ordering congressional Republicans around.
That’s a danger not just to the free press but to the very concept of separated powers.
— STLtoday.com
