Law professors slam Sessions ahead of talk on free speech

Dozens of Georgetown University Law Center professors are slamming a planned talk about free speech by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, calling the upcoming address “troubling.”

In a letter released Monday, 31 professors blasted Sessions, who is scheduled to speak Tuesday about free speech on college campuses at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

The letter argues that Sessions planned speech is “hypocritical,” because of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb free speech. 

“Attorney General Sessions is a key cabinet member in an administration headed by a President who spent last weekend denouncing athletes engaged in free expression and calling for them to be fired,” the letter reads.

{mosads}The letter also points to the criminal prosecution of a woman who was arrested after laughing during Sessions’ confirmation hearing in January, and the Justice Department’s effort to obtain information about an Inauguration Day protest website.

The letter was first reported by HuffPost.

The letter came as President Trump faces backlash for his remarks about professional football players who kneel in protest during the national anthem. At a campaign rally in Alabama on Friday, the president called on NFL coaches to fire athletes that participated in the demonstrations.

Trump’s remarks drew a firm rebuke from the sports world. But he has stood by those comments and taken to Twitter in recent days to defend himself. 

In a public show of solidarity, NFL players across the country knelt or linked arms during the anthem.

On Tuesday, Trump called for the NFL to officially ban players from taking a knee during the national anthem.