Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who was reincarcerated after being granted a furlough from his prison sentence because of the risk of coronavirus in prisons, has sued the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prison for civil rights violations.

The lawsuit claims that Cohen initially refused to sign terms of his furlough that would bar him from speaking out, via any media, about his crimes, which would preclude him from publishing a book he was writing during his furlough.

Cohen eventually relented and signed the furlough agreement, but was taken into custody anyone, with one law enforcement officer telling him, “It’s out of our hands.”

Michael Cohen just filed a lawsuit against AG Barr claiming that he was sent back to prison for refusing an "unconstitutional demand" to gag him and stop his book.

Background, via @JRuss_JRuss at @CourthouseNews: https://t.co/71SPdrQy9w pic.twitter.com/NUnXRRmU3J

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 21, 2020

The lawsuit alleges that Cohen’s First Amendment rights regarding free speech are being violated.

The issue, however, is that there’s no law preventing a prisoner from publishing a book or telling his/her story, and making such a demand of a prisoner is considered unconstitutional.  Simply because someone is in prison, one does not lose their First Amendment rights.

While there are laws that prevent felons and other criminals from profiting from their crimes through book or movie rights–called the Manson laws after Charles Manson and the Manson “family”–there is no law about simply publishing a book if you don’t profit from it.

As many legal experts told justsecurity.org, such a ban on writing a book is not the only thing that doesn’t pass legal scrutiny.  The order is essentially a universal gag order, banning any communications over any media.

Cohen will have two things that he can sue for:  first, the gag order and second, the potential that he was re-incarcerated through an unconstitutional condition of furlough.