Alaska House Democrats are trying to take away First Amendment rights of Republican members, starting with Rep. David Eastman – Must Read Alaska
The group known as Oath Keepers is a loose network of organizations made up of former military, police, fire, and first responders people who have taken oaths at some point in their lives to defend the Republic.
Rep. David Eastman is a member of the Oath Keepers, and for this, he is being hunted and hounded by Alaska House Democrats.
The Democrat majority members have for weeks been acting to remove Eastman from all of his committee assignments because of his association with the group, whose leaders await trial for their activities leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021 in the nations capital.
The charges against Yale University graduate and Oath Keeper founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes are serious, but as of yet unproven, as his trial does not begin until April 19.
The Department of Justice charges say Oath Keeper defendants were not just engaged in mere disorderly conduct on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, but that they organized militarily well in advance to stop the peaceful transfer of power from President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.
On Wednesday, Rhodes is scheduled to appear before the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The committee, formed on a party-line vote on July 1, 2021, has been subpoenaing citizens and documents ever since to testify about what they knew and in what manner they participated in the Jan. 6 surge into the Capitol. The committee has even subpoenaed numerous Trump Administration members and advisers, and people associated with other patriotic nonprofit groups, including Women For America First and Moms for America.
Among the dozens of Alaskans who also went to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 to attend a Trump rally and participate in a protest was Rep. Eastman of Wasilla, who stayed a good distance from the halls of Congress the entire time.
For months, socialist organizers in Alaska political circles and their Democrat surrogates in the House have been on Eastmans trail, to try to get him removed from office altogether, due to his membership in Oath Keepers.
But there just are not enough votes for him to be expelled by the House, and Plan B is to redline him from all of his committees.
That failed on Monday because there were evidently not enough votes, but the Democrats plan to take the matter up again when Rep. Sara Rasmussen returns. Although she is a registered Republican, the Democrats are counting on her vote to punish Eastman, who is somewhat of his own caucus most of the time. Rasmussen is said to be out due to quarantine and votes with the Democrat majority frequently.
If the House does act against Eastman, it will set a precedent for the Legislature to punish members for their associations with various legally recognized groups groups such as the Democrat Socialists, or Black Lives Matter.
Oath Keepers is not only a legal organization, it enjoys protection by the Internal Revenue Service as a charitable, non-taxable entity. The IRS recognizes several Oath Keeper affiliates as 501(c) groups, including:
But politically motivated groups like the Democratic Party and Southern Poverty Law Center view Oath Keepers as one of the largest far-right antigovernment groups in the U.S. today.
In a court of law, what a nonprofit political group calls another nonprofit political group is one thing, but when a group is protected by the federal government as a charitable group, its quite another.
The Alaska House Committee on Committees was planning to meet at noon Tuesday to try again to remove Eastman from committees on its roster, but abruptly canceled its meeting, which had not even been advertised on the legislative calendar. That means its likely no floor action will be taken against Eastman on Wednesday.
The dispute is spinning the wheels of the House of Representatives, which is on Day 15 of its current 90- to 120-day session. Although Speaker Louise Stutes said this session was going to be more harmonious, she chairs the Committee on Committees, and she has verbally sneered at those defending Eastman.
Democrat Majority Leader Rep. Chris Tuck on the House floor on Monday said that some rights are simply not allowed. Tuck, who has not served in the military but has sworn an oath as a lawmaker, said there are distinct curbs on peoples free speech rights.
We really dont have the right to do whatever you want. It really is the right to do whats best, Tuck said.
But Rep. Kevin McCabe said that military men and women, when they take an oath, its for life, to defend against enemies foreign and domestic.
Notice there is no expiration on that oath, Madam Speaker, he said, saying that would be important for people to remember in coming days.
Rep. Ben Carpenter, also a veteran, spoke to the importance of defending the First Amendment rights of all Americans.
One of the lessons I learned in the military, after I took my oath to defend this nation, is that the Marxist that sits in the tank next to me has the same rights that I do, Carpenter said. First among those are the right to free speech and to freely associate with the organizations that I choose.
Carpenter continued: If you can remove somebody from a position because you dont like what they say or what they think, its only a matter of time before somebody else gets removed, for some other topic.
Like Loading...
Read this article:
Alaska House Democrats are trying to take away First Amendment rights of Republican members, starting with Rep. David Eastman - Must Read Alaska
- Here Is Why Harvard Argues That Trump's Funding Freeze Violates the First Amendment - Reason Magazine - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Thankfully, Larry David mocks Bill Maher First Amendment News 467 - FIRE | Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- No, Gov. Lombardo, nobody was being paid to exercise First Amendment rights - Reno Gazette Journal - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Letter from the Editor: The First Amendment shaped my time on the Hill - WKUHerald.com - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Analysis: Pro-Hamas speech is protected by the First Amendment - Free Speech Center - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Who Will Fight for the First Amendment? Protecting Free Expression at a Critical Time - - Center for Democracy and Technology - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- What the Doxxing of Student Activists Means For the First Amendment - The Progressive - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Does Gov. Landrys bid to restrict attorney advertising violate the First Amendment? - Baton Rouge Business Report - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Harvard invokes First Amendment in US lawsuit over academic control - Times of India - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Fun with the First Amendment: Why Sarah Palins lawyers are happy, and why Deborah Lipstadt isnt - Media Nation - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- The First Amendment Is Being Rewritten in Real Time - Rewire News Group - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Criminalizing the Assertion of First Amendment Rights - Law.com - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Massachusetts First Amendment case: Harmony Montgomerys custody hearing audio to be released - Boston Herald - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Harvard, Trump and the First Amendment: Will Others Follow Suit? - Law.com - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Executive Watch: The breadth and depth of the Trump administrations threat to the First Amendment First Amendment News 465 - FIRE | Foundation for... - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Rising Wave of Funders and PSOs Stand Up for the First Amendment Freedom to Give - Inside Philanthropy - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Clear commands of First Amendment precedent: Trump-appointed judge rejects government motion to stay court order allowing Associated Press back into... - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Distinguished lecture series on First Amendment at URI adds Visiting Professors of Practice Rhody Today - The University of Rhode Island - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Everything starts with a voice: Understanding the First Amendment - The Tack Online - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- This is an all-out war on the First Amendment - mronline.org - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- The lost right in the first amendment - The Tack Online - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Zero-tolerance laws on Tennessee school shooting threats raise First Amendment worries - The Tennessean - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Federal Judge Orders White House to Restore Access to AP, Citing First Amendment - Democracy Now! - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Does the First Amendment apply to the students in Texas who had their visas revoked? - Fort Worth Star-Telegram - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Guest Column: Detention of Tufts Student a Brazen Attack on the First Amendment - The Bedford Citizen - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- KU students protest for First Amendment rights - The Washburn Review - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Trackergate: The First Amendment Fights Back as Schieve and Hartung Face the Music - Nevada Globe - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- A friend's wedding, the First Amendment - Delta Democrat-Times - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Judge rules against White House in AP's First Amendment case - newscentermaine.com - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- UMass Amherst library hosts webinar on the First Amendment and book banning - Massachusetts Daily Collegian - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Kansas Statehouse clownery has torn First Amendment to shreds. Who will tape it back together? - Kansas Reflector - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Is Mahmoud Khalil protected by the First Amendment? - CNN - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- D.C. Media's Gridiron Dinner Features A Toast To The First Amendment --- And Not To The President - Deadline - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Mayors Threat to Close Miami Cinema Over No Other Land Screening Condemned by Film Groups as First Amendment Violation - Yahoo - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- TSA Screeners' Union Sues the Trump Administration for Violating Its First Amendment Rights - Reason - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Kevin McCabe: Why defending the First Amendment means protecting the Second - Must Read Alaska - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Murder the Truth explores the campaign against the First Amendment - The Washington Post - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- The Trump-Musk Administration Is Running Out of Ways to Ignore the First Amendment - Balls & Strikes - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- From Gods to Google: DU Law Professor Sounds Alarm Over First Amendment and Technology Regulation - University of Denver Newsroom - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Intimidating abridgments and political stunts First Amendment News 461 - Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Opinion | The Khalil case is a threat to First Amendment rights - The Washington Post - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Fallout from campus protests sparks debate on limits of the First Amendment - Spectrum News - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Troy Carico: Stabbing the First Amendment in the back in Alabama | - 1819 News - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Donald Trump Is Tearing Up The First Amendment - HuffPost - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Sorry Mahmoud Khalil, Aliens Do Not Have the Same First Amendment Rights as American Citizens - Immigration Blog - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- BREAKING: Bill Nye to headline annual Loyolan First Amendment Week - Los Angeles Loyolan - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Spokane and Bonner county sheriff's offices can no longer hide or delete critical Facebook comments after First Amendment concerns, judges rule - The... - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Paula Rigano: Last time I checked, the First Amendment still stood - GazetteNET - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Trump is using antisemitism as a pretext for a war on the first amendment | Judith Levine - The Guardian - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Professor Can Continue with First Amendment Claim Over Denial of Raise for Including Expurgated Slurs on Exam - Reason - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Free Mahmoud Khalil and protect students exercising their First Amendment rights! - MoveOn's petitions - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Guy Ciarrocchi: The lesson from Covid the experts hate our First Amendment - Broad + Liberty - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Trump Administration Faces Growing Backlash Over First Amendment Concerns and Threats to Free Speech - Arise News - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- The Lobby, Mahmoud Khalil & the First Amendment - Consortium News - March 18th, 2025 [March 18th, 2025]
- Expressive Discrimination: Universities' First Amendment Right to Affirmative Action Part 2 - Reason - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Inside Israel's Plan To Resume the War and 'Eradicate Hamas.' Plus, Trump's Press Pool Takeover Is Not an Assault on the First Amendment. - Washington... - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Expressive Discrimination: Universities' First Amendment Right to Affirmative Action - Reason - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- OPINION: Attacking the First Amendment and America's free press - Midland Daily News - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Press pool takeover drowns First Amendment - Freedom of the Press Foundation - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- First Amendment Victory! Wyoming Airport Agrees to Settlement After Rejecting PETA Ad - PETA - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Our View: Theres nothing murky about the First Amendment - Palestine Herald Press - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Ohio Universitys complicated history with the First Amendment and student expression - The New Political - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- A free press makes a country free The First Amendment protects the liberty of all - Hawaii Tribune-Herald - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Whats the First Amendment Got to Do With It? The White Houses Associated Press Ban - Law.com - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Opinion | The First Amendment Isnt on Trumps Side - The Wall Street Journal - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Trump Tries To Carve Out a First Amendment Exception for 'Fake News' - Reason - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- MTHS receives its 15th First Amendment Press Freedom Award - MLT News - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- The White House takeover of the press pool is a brazen attack on the First Amendment - MSNBC - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he barred The Associated Press from the White House - The Observer - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- D.C.'s U.S. Attorney Is a Menace to the First Amendment - Reason - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Ominous Move to Strip Americans of First Amendment Rights - DCReport - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Editorial New York Daily News: A free press makes a country free The First Amendment protects the liberty of all - The Daily News Online - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Narrow Applicability Is Not the Same As Narrow Tailoring: Applying the First Amendment in First Choice Womens Resource Centers v. Platkin - The... - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- More to Every Story: First Amendment rights and public events - KREM.com - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Trumps lawsuit barred by the First Amendment, pollsters team argues - The Washington Post - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Judge orders local newspaper to remove editorial; owner says this violates First Amendment rights - WLBT - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- AP sues Trump officials over Oval Office ban, citing First Amendment - Axios - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- A free press makes a country free: The First Amendment protects the liberty of all - New York Daily News - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Ilya Shapiro is back . . . with a new book First Amendment News 458 - Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]
- People exercising their First Amendment rights aren't 'wreckers' | Letters - South Bend Tribune - February 20th, 2025 [February 20th, 2025]