From the Liveblog of
Saturday, August 29, 2026
US judge says Trump administration unconstitutionally silencing Israel critics
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SAN JOSE, California — Citing the importance of the First Amendment, a federal judge in California says the US government is unconstitutionally silencing critics of Israel’s war in Gaza and others as part of the Trump administration’s quest to deport noncitizens who it says disrupted college campuses while expressing their views.
Judge Noël Wise, in a ruling, delivers a victory for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper at Stanford University, which has said some international students were afraid to speak out because of the deportation threat.
“Freedom of speech is illusory if we are only ‘free’ to express complementary views about the government and its leaders,” the judge writes
The decision largely piggybacks on findings from nearly a year ago by a US district judge in Boston, who ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it targeted people who are not citizens for deportation solely for supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel.
Wise wrote that the freedoms of speech and the press are “foundational to America’s enduring democracy.” The judge cited free-speech and vagueness flaws that violate the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment as she struck down portions of the provisions that the federal government follows regarding deportations.
The Times of Israel Community.