Donald Trump Is Torching the First Amendment. Judges Are Putting Him in His Place

Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk spent 45 days as a political prisoner of the United States of America .

The 30-year-old PhD scholar took a stance for Palestinian lives and an end to the war in Gaza .

Not falling in line with the government’s view on the topic became the raison d’être for her imprisonment.

The Bully's Pulpit: Trump v. The First Amendment can become its own form of self-preservation, says Julian Zelizer .

Zelizer: As goes Mahmoud Khalil or Rümeysa Öztürk , so go the rest of us, as goes MahmoudKhalil orRümüs Özturk .

He says the government can imprison them over their views or for writing about issues in the national interest, as many journalists do, it can imprison anyone. Zelizer says he's hosting a podcast about the First Amendment .

Frida Ghitis : Trump administration is doing unconstitutional attack on free expression.

She says it's not the only attack we've seen in the past four months on free speech rights.

Ghitis says the administration's escalating legal confrontation with Harvard is a case to watch.

She notes that funding cuts and threats directed at institutions that create and disseminate news, knowledge, culture, and research are legion.