Literary group sues Trump alleging abuse of power

Donald Trump has been sued thousands of times over the course of his career, and now writers are the latest to file a complaint.

PEN America, the nonprofit organization of writers and literary professionals, has sued the president for what it says an abuse of his powers “to retaliate against journalists and media outlets he finds objectionable” — in violation of the First Amendment.

PEN America filed its lawsuit in federal court in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and is represented by the nonpartisan nonprofit Protect Democracy and the Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic.

“Most of the president’s verbal attacks on the press are speech that is protected under the First Amendment,” PEN President Jennifer Egan and PEN Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Nossel wrote in a joint statement. “However, when President Trump crosses the line and threatens to use his authority to punish the media, or actually does so, it is vital for the courts to step in and affirm that such threats and reprisals are unconstitutional.”

PEN’s lawsuit states that it “seeks the entry of an Order (a) declaring that Defendant Trump’s retaliatory acts violate the First Amendment, and (b) enjoining Defendant Trump from directing any officer, employee, agency, or other agent or instrumentality of the United States government to take any action against any person or entity in retaliation for speech that the President or his Administration do not like.”

The complaint cites, among examples, Trump’s call “for action to punish the online retailer Amazon because Jeff Bezos, its chief shareholder and CEO, owns the Washington Post, whose accurate coverage of his Administration the President finds objectionable.”