Stop administration's abuse of power over free speech

The Trump administration is reaching deep into the daily decisions of private people, businesses and universities, strong-arming them with threats about funding and regulations. They are punishing entities for disagreeing by telling companies who they can hire, what content they can produce, what ideas are acceptable, and what speech is off-limits. This includes mocking and threatening comedians like Stephen Colbert, withholding funding from universities like Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Penn, and Princeton for allowing faculty criticism or student protests, and targeting law firms like Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, Covington & Burling, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale for representing clients in Trump investigations or taking positions contrary to the administration's views. Such overreach undermines free speech, academic freedom, and an independent legal profession, compelling ideological conformity through abuse of executive power. Congress must act to stop this overreach and restore checks and balances to our Government.