Ron Highlights First Amendment Freedoms

Ron devoted much of his Fourth of July congressional work period highlighting the importance of the First Amendment in a tour throughout Oregon that focused on core American freedoms of press, religion, speech and assembly.

“In much of the world, people can’t freely assemble, speak, write or practice their religion,” he said. “As the son of a reporter, I learned early on about the importance of the freedom of the press. And as the child of parents who fled the Nazis, I also learned early on about the importance of the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly.

“It’s more important than ever as we in the United States celebrated our nation’s birth date to celebrate all those freedoms and to defend them from assaults with all our might,” Ron said.

The senator’s spotlight on the First Amendment’s freedom of assembly and speech featured his 900th town hall in Eugene – the city where Ron attended law school in the 1970s at the University of Oregon. In that same vein, he also held a news conference in Eugene with Planned Parenthood to raise concerns about Donald Trump nominating a Supreme Court justice who would threaten Roe v. Wade and women’s hard-earned reproductive rights as well as everyone’s right to privacy.

Other First Amendment stops marking the freedoms of assembly and speech included southern Oregon where he walked in Ashland’s Fourth of July parade, and his remarks at a Portland rally speaking out against the cruelty of Trump’s immigration policy separating families seeking safe haven in the United States and imprisoning asylum seekers.

That callous Trump immigration policy came up during Ron’s First Amendment freedom-of-religion roundtables with religious and community leaders in Portland and Eugene concerned that the Trump administration is lumping together people fleeing religious persecution and dumping them in prisons.

At each stop, Ron welcomed reporters practicing the freedom of the press, noting how reporters were slain recently in Annapolis, Maryland pursuing that freedom. And he dedicated a separate stop to press freedom when he honored retired Daily Astorian editor and publisher Steve Forrester with a “Go Fourth” award – an honor that takes its name from both the Fourth Estate and July 4th.

More information about Ron’s First Amendment travels throughout Oregon is available on Instagram and Twitter under the #FirstAmendmentWyden hashtag.