Indicted ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon’s actions belie his claim he was acting as a Constitutionally-protected “journalist” when he disrupted a church service last month – but, even if he was, he still doesn’t have the right to violate the religious freedom rights of others – legal experts say.
On January 29, federal authorities arrested Lemon for his role in the January 18 storming of a St. Paul, Minnesota-area church by an organized mob of far-left rioters under the guise of protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts to detail illegal aliens. He has been charged with violating laws protecting the right to freedom of religious worship.
Despite his claim to be a journalist covering, instead of a participant in, the church invasion, actions speak louder than words, legal analysts note.
“Don Lemon was part of an organized mob that stormed into a church service and prevented the parishioners from practicing their faith,” Constitutional lawyer, commentator and Author Mark Levin wrote in a X.com post explaining that Lemon was acting as a participant, not a journalist, in the church invasion.
“He can claim he was merely reporting, but he was not. Even if he was, he still intentionally joined in the disruption of the church service,” Levin notes. “And he obviously knew beforehand what was going to take place.”
“In footage that Lemon posted online, it appears that he was not merely an observer recording the illegal protest inside the church, which would be a typical role of a reporter, Fox News Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett wrote in an analysis. “Instead, he seemed to be an active participant who embedded himself with the mob and joined their cause in harassing and tormenting the parishioners,” Jarrett wrote, detailing how Lemon:
- “Confronted the pastor with contentious questions, the same way that the agitators accosted stunned —and perhaps fearful — congregates.”
- Knew of the protesters’ plan to barge into and disrupt the church service.
- Admitted that he had done “reconnaissance.”
- Accompanied members of Minnesota Black Lives Matter.
- Handed out donuts and coffee to the demonstrators.
- Vowed to accompany them on their invasion.
“Calling yourself a ‘journalist’ or claiming that you are simply ‘committing journalism,’ as Lemon has done, is not a defense. It is your behavior that the law examines. Both words and actions can reveal your intent,” Jarrett explains:
“This is why Lemon has found himself in criminal jeopardy.”
“Courts have had to work through this by looking at their conduct – not how they define themselves, but what did they do,” George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, who has represented legal observers in protest cases, concurred in an interview with Fox News Channel. “Don Lemon really stretches that meaning of a ‘journalist,’” Turley said.
What’s more, “Neither journalists nor protesters enjoy any constitutional right to invade someone else’s private space to report on the news or proclaim their message,” according to analysis by Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty Senior Counsel Eric Rassbach quoted in The Wall Street Journal:
“By Lemon’s logic, the KKK could claim a First Amendment right to storm a black church during services and stage a protest. That gets the First Amendment completely backwards.”
….
“Don Lemon has exactly the same First Amendment right to barge into a church and disrupt a worship service as I would have to walk into his home and start reporting on his private dinner party—namely, none at all.”
