A federal judge in New York has blocked President Donald Trump’s rules restricting speech on the campus of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
The controversy stems from an executive order Trump signed that prohibits West Point, which gives college-level training and higher education to Army cadets, from “promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating” certain “un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories,” including the idea “that America’s founding documents are racist or sexist.”
A suit was brought against the policy by Tim Bakken, a civilian professor at the academy.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, agreed with Bakken that the order is an impermissible restriction on the free speech of academics at the institution.
“West Point cadets… are not snowflakes who will somehow be harmed by learning about controversial issues,” Seibel wrote in her order, which issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of the Army enforcing Trump’s order.
This is not the only First Amendment litigation facing the Trump administration’s military policies. Earlier this month, a judge once again ruled against the Pentagon’s press access rules, which led the vast majority of news outlets — even right-wing outlets — to leave the Pentagon pool in favor of far-right, pro-Trump bloggers.
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