Charles C. Haynes: Trump and the future of the First Amendment

  After Super Tuesday, what was once unthinkable may now be inevitable: Donald Trump, Republican nominee for president of the United States.

  That’s my cue to join the hundreds of other columnists and pundits scrambling to inform Republican primary voters so that when they vote, they understand the implications of their vote. Of course, the joke is on us. The more we pile on Trump, the more he piles up votes.

  Nevertheless, we have a civic duty at moments like this “to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties,” to quote James Madison. There are troubling signs in this campaign that a Trump presidency could be a disaster for First Amendment freedoms.

Larry M. Elkin: The hazards of secondhand news

  Let's talk about a product found in virtually every American household that sometimes causes serious side effects, including anxiety, depression, delusions, and even fits of anger. You might think this product should come labeled with advice to keep it out of the reach of children.

  It does not. I am talking about the news.

Sam Fulwood III: Right-wing executives threaten employees over election results

  In an act that smacks of medieval feudalism, ASG Software Solutions Chief Executive Officer Arthur Allen sent an email to the Naples, Florida-based firm’s 1,000 employees in 70 offices worldwide that threatened employees’ jobs if GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney isn’t elected president.

Ian M. MacIsaac:The Supreme Court rules on health care, with logic (evidently) too complicated for television

  The sprawling crowd mulled nervously in the square, most of them facing the great columned facade of the Supreme Court building. Clusters of protesters with colorful hats and signs representing all conceivable sides of the issue at hand were flanked by numerous visiting public figures and celebrities, all surrounded by the press, cameras and recorders in hand.

  It was 10 am Thursday, June 28, across 1st Street Northeast from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Briefs containing the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--the president's health care bill centered around an individual mandate--were being brought down from within the depths of the huge building in stapled sheafs to be handed out to the members of the press waiting eagerly outside.

  At the White House, in the area immediately outside the Oval Office traditionally termed the 'Outer Oval,' President Obama stood amid a mini-control room of televisions that White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew had tuned to show four separate news channels.