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![handle is hein.journals/wajlp80 and id is 1 raw text is:
DEFENDING DISSENT: SAFEGUARDING SPEECH AND
POLITICAL OPPOSITION
Lisa S. Hoppenjans*
The beginning of the second Trump administration has been a perilous
time for the free speech rights of those engaged in expression disfavored by
the administration. A recent report by media policy organization Free Press
outlines approximately 200 attempts of censorship in the first 11 months of
the second Trump administration.1 These actions include targeting reporters
whose speech Trump disagrees with, detaining individuals with lawful
immigration status in response to their political speech, the pursuit of
dubious criminal charges against perceived political opponents, and
pressuring law firms who represented clients and causes disfavored by the
administration into agreements requiring them to provide pro bono work for
causes identified by the administration.2 This volume, Defending Dissent:
Safeguarding Speech and Political Opposition, considers current threats to
free speech-both from the federal government and otherwise-and ways
to guard against them.
Joseph Tomain examines recent free speech controversies in his essay,
arguing that First Amendment law alone is not enough to safeguard the
speech that democracy requires.3 Instead, robust legal protection must be
accompanied by what Tomain describes as a cultural commitment to
defending dissent.4 Tomain outlines recent promising examples of
ideological opponents uniting to defend free speech and discusses the
ongoing challenges in promoting commitment to free speech protections for
the thought that we hate.5 To cultivate a culture that values free speech,
* Professor of Practice & Director, First Amendment Clinic, Washington University in St.
Louis School of Law.
1. Nora Benavidez, I Counted Trump's Censorship Attempts. Here's What IFound, N.Y. TIMES
(Dec. 31, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/opinion/trump-first-amendment-dissent.html
[https://perma.cc/7943-JCDJ].
2. Id.
3. See generally Joseph A. Tomain, Cultivating Free Speech Culture, 80 WASH. U. J.L. &
POL'Y 129 (2026).
4. See generally id.
5. See generally id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wajlp80&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)