Howard Blum

Of course.

And thank you for having me on, Megan.

I'm a longtime fan.

Mike and I know each other well.

You know, the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law.

Journalists

typically or generally can avoid prosecution based upon the Department of Justice's forbearance and tolerance for some journalistic activity that might otherwise be in violation of the strict language of a statute.

The FACE Act, however, provides no journalistic exception.

If the conduct of a journalist violates the text of the FACE Act,

or Section 241, the conspiracy against rights, the First Amendment provides no protection.

The First Amendment is in effect at its core a constitutional right to prevent the government from banning publication of information.

It's not a failsafe.

It's not a provision that protects the actions of journalists in pursuing information.

And that's what we have here.

And in fact, Mike mentioned the use of the FACE Act by the Biden administration, Biden Justice Department, Merrick Garland.

There were multiple conservative journalists prosecuted in connection with January 6th.

I represented one of them.

And they were there recording the events, video, audio recording.

They defended themselves on the basis that they were just observers of the events.

But, you know, in their background, in their history, they or even on that day, they made comments that the courts viewed.