First Amendment attorneys challenge the Committee’s abuse of authority to direct compulsory process in order to punish and silence constitutionally protected expression and viewpoints with which the Committee leadership disagrees.
Washington, D.C. — On Friday, August 7th, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund delivered its responses to subpoenas issued by the House Ways and Means Committee to its clients, The People’s Forum and BreakThrough News. The responses contend that the subpoenas are an abuse of authority to punish and silence First Amendment-protected viewpoints and reporting that the Committee leadership disfavors, and that the Committee has failed to articulate a legitimate legislative purpose and pertinency to any such purpose.
The letters sent on August 7th to Chairman Jason Smith of the House Ways and Means Committee, stated:
“It bears noting that the Committee’s July 21, 2026, disclaims that it is operating with the hallmarks of a modern-day House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Such protestation is belied not only by the open attacks that smear and vilify viewpoints disfavored by the Committee leadership in its letters to its targets, making plain that First Amendment-protected speech is a core part of the inquiry but also by the Committee’s public statements,” which include denouncing the TPF and BreakThrough News as having “anti-American” messaging and the Chair’s stating “I will absolutely not stand by and allow our tax code to be abused to push anti-American rhetoric on our home soil.”
The PCJF continued in its letters: “This is the language of the Red Scare, where Americans who advocated for racial and social justice and for peace between nations were labeled as promoting ‘anti-American’ and ‘Un-American’ views, were investigated and accused of mirroring and promoting talking points of the Soviet Union, of sowing division, and of being tools of a foreign entity in an effort to discredit and silence dissent through fear and punishment. As we said: ‘a witch-hunt is not a valid legislative purpose.’”
The letter responses, by counsel Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the PCJF and Andrew Herman of the Law Offices of Andrew D. Herman, describe the Committee’s constantly changing assertions as to legislative purpose and states: “Across all three letters, one thing has not changed: the Committee’s public attacks and vilification” of the targets “based on expressed viewpoint. Only the legal theory offered to justify reaching it has changed. An ever-shifting rationale, reformulated each time it is questioned, is not the legislative purpose driving this inquiry; it is simply a justification assembled to fit a target chosen in advance.”
The letters further detail and object to the legal infirmities and inadequacies of the Committee’s Subpoena and argument, in summary that: 1) the Subpoena exceeds the bounds of legislative inquiry by seeking to adjudicate and to expose rather than to inform legislation; 2) the Subpoena burdens rights of speech, press, and association that the First Amendment protects against precisely this kind of compelled disclosure; 3) the Subpoena reaches subjects beyond the jurisdiction the House has delegated to this Committee; 4) the Subpoena fails the requirements of pertinency and specificity that due process requires.
PCJF Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, constitutional rights attorney and counsel to The People’s Forum and BreakThrough News, stated:
“The Committee’s subpoenas are openly targeting organizations based on First Amendment-protected viewpoint and independent reporting. They seek to smear and silence those fighting for change, and to shut down media that tells the truth to the American people about the actions of their government. This is an abuse of authority and a direct assault on democratic rights. We are defending our clients’ First Amendment rights – constitutional rights that cannot be compromised – before this modern day HUAC.”
Read the response on behalf of the People’s Forum here.
Read the response on behalf of BreakThrough News here.
The subpoenas were issued on July 21, 2026 — the day after the Trump Administration issued its Red Scare “Cuba Report” — as Trump and his allies attempt to bring back McCarthyism as a political weapon to crush those who oppose his regressive agenda.
“The First Amendment was specifically written to protect journalism that the government does not approve of. Journalism approved by the government wouldn’t need protection” said Breakthrough News editor-in-chief Ben Becker.
The People’s Forum stated, “These latest attacks on The People’s Forum are not about our organization alone. It is part of an escalating crusade against all progressive organizations and any group or person who expresses opposition to the ultra-right, racist, and pro-war policies of the Trump White House. Only by standing together can we defeat this assault on Free Speech rights and defend civil liberties and civil rights.”
On August 7th, 71 organizations in NY signed onto a letter standing in solidarity with the People’s Forum against these attacks, including SEIU 32BJ, Jewish Voices for Peace, and The New York Civil Liberties Union. As the Trump Administration’s McCarthyite attacks ramp up, resistance to them only grows stronger.
The People’s Forum and BreakThrough News stated they will not be silenced by the investigation and will continue their journalism and organizing work.
For a detailed background and further information, visit our Litigation page on this topic here.