Rubber stamping president Donald Trump’s criticism of professional football players who kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the players should show respect for the country, first responders and the military by exercising their free speech rights in their own time. (Huffington Post, September 24, 2017, by Jonathan Cohn)
First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams argued that when the president called for the NFL owners to fire the players for free speech activities he showed “enormous contempt” for the First Amendment. Abrams said it was dicey for the president to suggest firing an employee in these circumstances in that the First Amendment forbids government restriction of free speech. (The Washington Post, September 24,2017, by Devlin Barrett)
In its analysis of the issue, the law firm Vondran Legal, September 25, 2017, wrote that private businesses can restrict speech on their premises, but in the case of the NFL, many of the stadiums are built with taxpayer money. That makes the team owners “state actors” and restrained from preventing peaceful and orderly protest.
Federal law 18 U.S. Code paragraph 227 prohibits the president and other federal officials from “wrongfully influencing a private entity’s employment decisions,” but it would likely not apply in this case since the statements about firing wold have had to be made “with the intent to influence, solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation.” In this case, many Republican owners are criticizing Trump for his opinions on the protests. (Sports Illustrated, September 24, 2017, by Michael McCann)