There’s been a lot of excitement about last month’s ruling by a federal judge in Boston that the Trump administration, in its efforts to deport college students holding objectionable political views, violated the First Amendment. Commentators have described the opinion by District Judge William G. Young as “blistering” and a “landmark” — and so on in that vein. And I’m pleased to see that the court tried to find a way to extend the protections of free speech to those present in the country on temporary visas.

But even though I’m in sympathy with the outcome, I find the celebrated opinion itself oddly unpersuasive, perhaps because the judge sets out to answer the wrong question. Appalled as I am by the administration’s assault on dissent, I wonder whether constitutional rights give us the

See Full Page