How First Amendment rights collided in a Minnesota church
- - How First Amendment rights collided in a Minnesota church
BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY February 5, 2026 at 1:25 AM
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How First Amendment rights collided in a Minnesota church
At least three rights protected under the First Amendment clashed in recent days as protesters and journalists, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, were arrested in connection with a Minnesota church protest.
Lemon was one of several journalists in attendance at the Jan. 18 protest of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Demonstrators entered the church during a service, alleging that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Videos of the protest showed demonstrators chanting "ICE out " and lead pastor Jonathan Parnell shouting, "Shame on you, this is the house of God and we are worshipping."
In a nearly seven-hour livestream on his YouTube channel, Lemon spoke with congregation members, protesters and one of the church's pastors.
Demonstrators have a right to assemble and exercise free speech. Journalists are allowed to cover newsworthy events. But churchgoers are also guaranteed the right to practice their religion.
“I think you could teach a course on constitutional law from all the things that have happened in Minneapolis in the last month,” said Thomas Berg, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.
First, federal agents flooded the state in what President Donald Trump’s administration has referred to as the “largest immigration operation ever.”
Then ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, followed by Border Patrol shooting and killing 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Both shootings prompted massive protests.
The arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort for their coverage of the church demonstration came less than a week after Pretti's death.
“Every one of the five freedoms of the First Amendment are in play on the streets of Minneapolis right now,” said Ken Paulson, director of Middle Tennessee State University’s Free Speech Center and former USA TODAY editor in chief.
Line between First Amendment rights, impeding federal operations
The Trump administration has maintained that its actions in the state do not threaten First Amendment rights.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the U.S. Constitution “protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting” in a statement to USA TODAY on Feb. 3.
“DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” McLaughlin said. “We remind the public that rioting is dangerous – obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a Jan. 8 social media post that peaceful protest is a “sacred American right protected by the First Amendment” but that it is a federal crime to impede or attack federal law enforcement or damage federal property.
On the same day, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in part that law enforcement officials are not required to “gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told USA TODAY on Feb. 3 that the administration "is committed to protecting all Americans' First Amendment freedoms - whether that be worshipping in church or protesting in the streets."
At the same time, she said, those who impede federal operations or otherwise break the law "will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Several of those who were arrested in connection with the church protest have described their prosecutions as politically motivated.
Freedom of the Press
A slew of press freedom groups condemned the arrests of Lemon and Fort, both of whom cited the First Amendment in defense of their reporting.
“The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do,” Lemon told reporters outside the courthouse where he had his initial appearance, according to Politico. “I stand with all of them and I will not be silenced.”
In video posted on her Facebook page on Jan. 30, Fort said agents were at her door over her coverage and that she was advised by her attorney to go with them.
“I don’t feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press,” she said.
Press freedom is not an unlimited right, and journalists are not immune from legal repercussions if they break the law in pursuing the news, experts said.
It wouldn’t be unheard of for a journalist to face a trespassing charge, for example, but they said such charges are typically issued by state and local governments. It is much more unusual, they said, for the federal government to get involved.
“This is like unleashing the U.S. Army when a ... hometown patrolman could do the job,” Paulson said.
He sees a “clear parallel” between the press freedom questions involved in the matter and the legal precedent that journalists generally have the right to publish classified information.
"The journalists are not breaking the law, they are accessing the information they need to share with their audience,” Paulson said of the Minnesota case.
It would be harder to argue that the journalists had a First Amendment right to report on the church protest if they were found to have been collaborating with the protesters, as federal prosecutors have alleged, Berg said.
Still, the administration’s actions against Lemon and Fort seem “beyond the pale,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute.
They are “part and parcel of the numerous actions by the Trump administration to curtail press freedom and target disfavored journalists,” she said.
Freedom of Religion
Those who were worshiping at Cities Church when the service was disrupted also have a First Amendment right to practice their religion.
The Trump administration has also invoked the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994 in its efforts to prosecute journalists covering the protest.
Among other actions, the law makes illegal “intentionally injuring, intimidating or interfering with” a person attempting to seek or provide services at a reproductive health facility or place of worship. It specifies, however, that the act should not be used to “prohibit any expressive conduct – including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration” protected by the First Amendment.
Trump’s White House has accused past administrations of using the law to target religious Americans.
Days after taking office for the second time, Trump pardoned nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists. The group included individuals charged with conspiring to storm a reproductive health clinic in Washington in October 2020. Among their charges were violations of the FACE Act.
Trump’s Department of Justice also invoked the law in its lawsuits against those involved in a Pro-Palestinian demonstration outside a New Jersey synagogue in 2024.
Freedom of Speech
While the demonstrators involved in the protest have the right to free speech, “there’s no First Amendment right to disrupt activities on private property,” including a church, Berg said.
Experts pointed to other elements of the ongoing developments in Minnesota that implicate the freedom of speech.
There's the Trump administration’s reported investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in relation to a suspected conspiracy to impede federal immigration enforcement, as well as numerous clashes between federal agents and protesters.
Law enforcement’s response to protests in the area “sends a chilling message to others to not engage in that kind of conduct because you might get arrested or beaten up or maybe even killed,” Fallow said.
been arrested on Jan. 29, 2026, days after being present at a protest inside a Minneapolis Church. Don Lemon (left) speaks with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), following a press conference alongside alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025.
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Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon has been arrested on Jan. 29, 2026, days after being present at a protest inside a Minneapolis Church. Don Lemon (left) speaks with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), following a press conference alongside alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025.
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Don Lemon attends the 2022 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
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1 / 12Former CNN host Don Lemon arrested. See his career in photos
Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon has been arrested on Jan. 29, 2026, days after being present at a protest inside a Minneapolis Church. Don Lemon (left) speaks with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), following a press conference alongside alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025.
Courts will decide
Ultimately, the legal system will be responsible for determining whether and to what extent various parties violated the law through their actions in Minnesota.
“Courts are not a perfect forum, but they’re the best place we have for sorting out people’s competing assertions and basing the decision on the facts as best we can understand them,” Berg, the law professor, said.
Paulson, who runs the First Amendment center, said the events in Minnesota have fostered a “renewed understanding of the importance of the First Amendment and the role it plays in keeping this country free.”
“It’s been a refresher for more than 300 million people,” he said.
Contributing: Michael Loria and Natalie Neysa Alund
BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected].
USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: First Amendment rights collide with protest in a Minnesota church
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