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Federal agents arrested Don Lemon in Los Angeles on January 29 in connection with a January 18 protest that forced its way into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and disrupted a worship service. The arrest came after prosecutors pursued a grand jury indictment even though a magistrate judge had earlier declined to sign off on charges for Lemon and others, setting off a fierce national debate.
According to federal filings, the charges include allegations under the FACE Act and a conspiracy-to-deprive-rights count tied to the interruption of religious worship, the sort of statutes meant to protect congregations from coordinated assaults on their ability to worship. The Department of Justice moved aggressively after the church disruption drew wide attention, and a grand jury ultimately returned indictments that revived a case a judge had initially balked at.
Attorney General Pam Bondi made clear she directed the arrests, framing the government’s action as a necessary defense of houses of worship against “coordinated attacks.” Conservatives should applaud an administration that enforces the rule of law when sacred spaces are targeted, instead of reflexively cheering every disruption that suits the left’s political theater.
Predictably, the left and much of the media immediately howled that Lemon’s arrest is a First Amendment assault, painting any enforcement action as political repression. That line of attack from the usual suspects is transparent: when a journalist they like is involved, every legal remedy becomes an existential threat to free press — until a congregant’s right to worship is the one on the chopping block.
The footage from the January protest shows activists chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” as they pressed into the service, and prosecutors say that conduct crossed the line from reporting to concerted interference with a religious ceremony. Americans of faith should be alarmed that places of worship are becoming battlegrounds for political stunt groups and that federal law must be used to put a stop to it.
Don Lemon insists he was on assignment and that livestreaming the event was protected journalism, a claim echoed by his attorney Abbe Lowell and repeated across the liberal media ecosystem. Still, being a member of the press does not grant carte blanche to join and amplify actions that law enforcement and prosecutors say were part of a coordinated takeover of a church service; that distinction matters for both constitutional rights and public order.
This is about more than one pundit’s fate — it’s about whether government will prioritize the safety and sanctity of worship over the performative outrage of activists and their media enablers. If the law permits disruptive mobs to shut down services under the guise of protest, then the promises of religious liberty guaranteed by the Constitution are hollow for everyday Americans.
The defendants, including Lemon, are expected to face court proceedings in the coming weeks as the country watches whether justice will be applied evenhandedly and without bowing to the outrage machine. Patriots who care about the rule of law and the freedom to worship should keep a close eye on this case and demand accountability from those who would treat sacred institutions as political props.
