Democrats’ own law boomerangs on Don Lemon – Latest News
Few political tales rival the scrumptious irony unfolding proper now in Los Angeles.
That’s the place federal brokers arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon, charging him with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
The offense: His function in livestreaming and allegedly aiding disruptive anti-ICE protesters who stormed Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., during Sunday worship earlier this month.
They interrupted the service to focus on a church pastor they believed labored for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Lemon claims he was simply “doing journalism,” however the Justice Department sees clear interference with First Amendment non secular rights — precisely what the FACE Act forbids.
But this isn’t simply enforcement; it’s poetic justice.
The FACE Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, was a Democratic Party precedence born out of outrage over pro-life activism.
Back then, the anti-abortion “rescue movement” was staging frequent sit-ins and prayer chains at abortion clinics, impeding entry to abortion companies.
Democrats, led by Rep. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ted Kennedy, crafted the FACE Act in response, to criminalize bodily obstruction at reproductive health services, together with the use of power or threats in opposition to them.
It handed with bipartisan assist — 17 Republicans voted yes within the Senate — however make no mistake: This was a Clinton-era triumph, designed primarily to defend abortion clinics from conservative protesters.
Here’s the place the irony thickens.
During legislative negotiations, the law was broadened so as to add those self same protections for homes of worship.
The last model prohibits anybody from utilizing power or obstruction to intrude with a particular person’s non secular freedom at a church, synagogue or related space.
Republicans didn’t power this as some partisan ploy; attorneys added it to make the invoice broader and more balanced, guarding in opposition to its dismissal on First Amendment grounds.
Democrats went alongside, by no means imagining the weapon they solid in opposition to pro-lifers would sooner or later ensnare one of their own media darlings.
Fast-forward three many years: A left-leaning journalist, as soon as a fixture on CNN, now faces the very statute his ideological allies championed.
Pro-life activists have long decried the FACE Act as an unconstitutional overreach — one which Democratic presidents, significantly Joe Biden, wielded enthusiastically in opposition to peaceable demonstrators.
President Donald Trump pardoned 23 such protesters, releasing them from prolonged jail sentences.
In a Truth Social post final week, Trump famous that “a small group of elderly ladies were protesting at an abortion clinic and were given 40 years” — and referred to as for Lemon and the church invaders to face related accountability.
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Now, beneath a Republican administration, the law is being utilized equally — to disruptors on the left.
And how are Democrats responding?
Predictably, they’re not condemning Lemon; they’re howling about overreach.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted the arrest as having “zero basis,” calling it an assault on the First Amendment from an “illegitimate” Justice Department.
Lemon’s legal professional Abbe Lowell echoed the press-freedom theme, calling his shopper a “journalist whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
No outstanding Democrat has mentioned, “Hey, this is the law we passed — own it.”
Instead, they pivot to victimhood, ignoring that the FACE Act’s non secular provision exists exactly as a result of of the need for bipartisan compromise and constitutional safety.
Their selective outrage exposes their double normal.
When pro-lifers get hit with FACE fees, leftists cheer “rule of law.”
When it’s Don Lemon — a vocal critic of Trump and conservative Christianity — the identical law turns into a “weaponized” device of oppression.
Republicans have long argued the FACE Act is inconsistently enforced, used in opposition to peaceable sidewalk counselors however not in opposition to pregnancy-center arsonists.
Now the shoe is on the opposite foot, and Democrats squirm.
The arrest is acceptable. If Lemon crossed into obstruction, he violated federal law.
The First Amendment protects reporting, however doesn’t grant immunity to intrude with sacred worship.
In the tip, this case underscores a timeless reality: Laws written to focus on one aspect can boomerang.
Democrats constructed the FACE Act to guard their constituencies, however included protections for religion communities to seal the deal — and now, one of their stars faces its tooth.
Will they lastly admit the law can pretty be utilized neutrally?
Or keep pretending it’s solely unjust when it hurts their workforce?
Republicans aren’t gloating — they’re imposing the law Democrats wrote.
If the left really believes in equal justice, they’ll let the method play out.
But we all know they received’t. They’ll complain, deflect and cry foul.
That’s not precept; that’s partisanship.
Bob Capano, a former senior aide to New York Republican and Democratic elected officers, is an adjunct professor of political science.
