On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at "restoring freedom of speech." But judging from his administration's policies and his actions as a private litigant, Trump's commitment to that principle is highly selective at best.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he was "taking a crucial step toward keeping the president's promise to liberate American speech" by ending his department's misbegotten crusade against online "disinformation." This was a welcome development, since that amorphous mission had become an excuse for suppressing constitutionally protected speech.
Still, Rubio's ringing defense of First Amendment rights is hard to reconcile with his determination to expel foreign students, including legal permanent residents, whose opinions he unilaterally deems contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests. Although Rubio and Trump seem to think the First Amendment applies only to American citizens, the U.S. Supreme Court disagrees.
