6/17/25
Dear President Trump:
The undersigned are nonpartisan civil rights organizations representing millions of people of every background in every ZIP code across America. We embrace the historic role that free speech has played in advancing civil rights in our country for centuries. And we condemn the efforts you have taken to attack this fundamental freedom and those who have lawfully exercised it to speak out against your policies.
The right of all people to free speech, including the right to protest government actions, was enshrined as the very First Amendment to our Constitution as a recognition of just how important it is. Along with voting on election day, free speech is central to how we engage in our democracy. We talk with our neighbors and friends and colleagues, we post on social media, and we peaceably assemble in the streets to protest. America has a rich tradition of people of conscience exercising their right to speak out; indeed, it has been central to every movement for civil and human rights in our history.
A central tenet to freedom of speech is that all people must be treated fairly and equally by the government, regardless of viewpoint. Everyone must be allowed to express disagreement with government policies. This is the essence of what makes us a free society.
That is why we are profoundly alarmed that you, over and over again, have tried to use every lever at your disposal to retaliate against those who have exercised their First Amendment right to disagree with your policies. For example, you and your administration have:
- Taken away the collective bargaining rights of unions that have filed lawsuits against you;
- Unlawfully imposed policies aimed at punishing law firms, private charities, and universities that you perceive as being hostile to you;
- Locked up and tried to deport students simply because they criticized U.S. foreign policy;
- Filed criminal charges against a sitting U.S. Representative, LaMonica McIver;
- Arrested and charged the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California president David Huerta;
- Warned that anyone who protests in Washington D.C—without distinguishing between lawful and unlawful activity—is “going to be met with very big force”; and
- Most recently, violently threw to the ground and handcuffed a sitting U.S. Senator, Alex Padilla, for merely trying to ask a question during a press conference.
Your actions against these institutions and individuals are punitive, unnecessary, and unlawful.
Your recent decision to deploy the National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps in Los Angeles is, regardless of how you misrepresent the situation there, yet another attack on the right of the people to peaceably assemble. It is a stunning extralegal overreach that is not only unwarranted, but which poses a grave concern for the safety of the people who live and exercise their constitutional rights there.
If allowed to stand, your actions would pose a threat to the First Amendment, our Constitution, and the rule of law in America. But we will not allow those actions to stand. We have the right to assemble—and on behalf of the communities we represent, we will continue to do just that.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
AAPI NJ
Advancement Project
American Atheists
American Civil Liberties Union
American Constitution Society
American Governance Institute
American Humanist Association
Americans for Financial Reform
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF)
America’s Voice
APIAVote
Arab American Institute (AAI)
Asian Americans United
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Inquiry (CFI)
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Coalition on Human Needs
COLAGE
Common Cause
Defend The Vote Action Fund
Defending Rights & Dissent
Demand Progress Education Fund
Democracy SENTRY
Economic Policy Institute
Education Law Center
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)
Equal Rights Advocates
Fair Fight Action
Feminist Majority Foundation
First Focus Campaign for Children & Kids Can’t Wait
FL National Organization for Women (FLNOW)
Free Press Action
Free Speech For People
Future of Us
Government Information Watch
Greater Orlando National Organization for Women (NOW)
Greenpeace.org
Human Rights First
Indivisible
Japanese American Citizens League
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)
Juvenile Law Center
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
League of Conservation Voters
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
League of Women Voters of the United States
Legal Aid at Work
Mi Familia Vota
Michigan Alliance for Special Education
National Abortion Federation
National Association of Social Workers
National Bar Association
National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)
National Council of Jewish Women
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Health Law Program
National Hispanic Media Coalition
National Immigration Law Center
National Organization for Women
National PLACE
National Urban League
National Women’s Law Center Action Fund
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Greater Cleveland Chapter
PBC NOW National Organization for Women
PEAK Parent Center
People For the American Way
PFLAG Sacramento
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Project On Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Public Justice
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Sarasota / Manatee NOW Chapter
Secular Coalition for America, Inc.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Serving at-risk families everywhere, Inc.
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
Stop AAPI Hate
The Advocacy Institute
The Parents’ Place of MD
The Sikh Coalition
The Workers Circle
Towards an Anti-Racist North Kingstown (TANK)
Voices for Progress Ed Fund
