The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has submitted to the court an amicus brief supporting former President Donald Trump. 

Fox News reports that the ACLU did so on Wednesday in the Washington, D.C., district court, where special council Jack Smith has indicted Trump claiming that the former president criminally interfered with the 2020 presidential election.

The case is being overseen by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been proven to have deep Democratic ties and who has demonstrated an anti-Trump bias - not just in this case, but in other cases that she has overseen in relation to the Capitol protest of Jan. 6, 2021.

Chutkan, previously, imposed a gag order on Trump, limiting the former president's First Amendment free speech right. The gag was subsequently suspended. Now, Smith is asking the court to reimpose the gag order, and Trump is receiving support from an unlikely source - the ACLU.

The ACLU's amicus brief

Fox News has published the ACLU's amicus brief, which was written by senior staff attorney Brett Kaufman.

In the brief, according to Fox, Kaufman writes that Trump has made statements that are "patently false" and that have "caused great harm to countless individuals, as well as to the Republic itself."

But, Kaufman goes on to write that this, in itself, is not enough to take away Trump's First Amendment free speech right.

"But, Trump retains a First Amendment right to speak, and the rest of us retain a right to hear what he has to say," Kaufman writes.

It is a statement that many civil libertarians and supporters of the U.S. Constitution have made, particularly considering that Trump is the frontrunner to win the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination. Still, it is somewhat hard to believe that the ACLU - which tends to lean, noticeably, to the political left - is coming to Trump's defense.

What now?

Currently, the gag order is paused. This is because Trump is appealing it.

So, we have to wait and see how the appellate court will rule.

In the meantime, Trump is taking full advantage of the gag order's pause.

The former president has returned to criticizing Smith and other witnesses in the case. The gag order, when in place, stops Trump from doing this. It also stops Trump from publicly criticizing Smith's staff and court personnel.

John Lauro, Trump's attorney, said that the ACLU's brief "makes very strong and compelling legal arguments for preserving Trump's First Amendment Rights."