House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday condemned pro-Gaza college protesters and said the First Amendment does not protect activists’ language.
“This is not free speech. I am a constitutional law attorney,” the Louisiana Republican said during the House GOP leadership news conference in the morning. “This is not the free marketplace of ideas; this is open threats to Jewish students.”
“Jewish students are unable to go to class,” Johnson added. “The administration at Columbia acknowledged that because they canceled classes for fear of physical safety of their students.”
Johnson also accused President Joe Biden and the highest-ranking Democrats of not doing enough to condemn and protect Jewish students amid allegations of antisemitism at protests on college campuses.
“That same vacuum of leadership is being felt at this really critical time, this moment in our cultural history, in the history of our country, with regard to the rise of antisemitism,” Johnson said. “We desperately need, the country needs, clear moral authority. We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong. What's happening on college campuses right now is wrong. It is un-American. It is not who we are. The president seems unable or unwilling to do that. The vice president, the same thing. Chuck Schumer, who is the highest-ranking Jewish official in the history of the United States, is not speaking to this issue.”
