CNN Legal Analyst: Don Lemon Charges Will Go “Nowhere,” Everyone Knows First Amendment Protects Him
CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson and host John Berman discussed the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon for participating in and/or documenting an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church:
JOHN BERMAN, CNN: Don says he was there covering a protest inside a church. What does the law say about what journalists are allowed to do? JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: John, I don’t know how much clearer I can be. Everyone knows-even an eighth grader-about the First Amendment: freedom of speech, freedom of the press. Before even getting into the law, these are bizarre times. It’s heartbreaking. If someone is arrested, there must be some scintilla of law supporting probable cause. Understand what happened here: prosecutors go to a judge, the judge says there’s no criminality. An appeal is denied. Yet authorities still move forward. Where are we? Our foundational democracy depends on reporting and holding power accountable-not power intimidating journalists. This case will end the same way the James Comey case ended-nowhere. Same with the Letitia James case. If someone is physically coercing worshippers, that’s different. That’s not this case. JOHN BERMAN: The law is fairly clear about what protesters can do in a church, which may be illegal. But a journalist’s presence covering it-why is that different? JOEY JACKSON: That’s the distinction. Protesters have rights, but not on private property and not when they interfere with religious worship. A journalist covering events is entirely different. And what’s alarming is we know Don. He’s a critic of the president. He’s said inflammatory things. So what? That’s journalism. The legal distinction between obstructing worship and documenting events is vast. Totally different ballgame legally.
