Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s repeated false claim that thousands of Muslims celebrated the Sept. 11 attack in New Jersey moments after the Twin Towers collapsed in New York is tantamount to shouting “fire!” in a crowded theater. Every major news organization has investigated and concluded that Trump’s story is completely false, nothing more than urban legend.

In the landmark 1919 Supreme Court decision Schenck vs. United States, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said that false speech made for the purpose of creating unnecessary panic (shouting “fire” in a crowded theater) was not protected by the First Amendment. In 1969, Brandenburg vs. Ohio limited the scope of Holmes’ banned speech to that which would be directed and likely to incite “imminent lawless action,” i.e., a riot or terrorist act. Trump’s insistence on repeating this incendiary lie falls into the category of “banned speech” as defined in the aforementioned U.S. Supreme Court Cases.

Trump enjoys being the obsession of the American press and as such has a huge megaphone to incite a violent response to this egregious lie and therefore is putting us all at risk. The U.S. Attorney General should issue Trump a gag order to cease and desist such speech forthwith! Putting his campaign before his country’s national security makes Donald Trump a total loser.

Beth Bardgett-Hall

Durango