The booksellers argue that such language is "excessively and intentionally broad." By including phrases like "traditional American views on family," the state creates a legal standard so subjective and vague as to be essentially meaningless. This lack of specificity, the letter warns, allows the government to define almost any form of speech, conduct, or thought as a threat to national security, thereby authorizing repressive state action against individuals and businesses alike.
The concerns raised by the booksellers are not merely theoretical. The open letter points to a recent and chilling legal precedent: the prosecution of protesters involved in a demonstration on July 4, 2025, outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Texas. This case, the signatories argue, serves as a "proof of concept" for how NSPM-7 will be weaponized against political activists and the infrastructure that supports them.
In the Prairieland case, nine protesters were arrested. As reported by The Guardian, a jury subsequently found eight of those nine individuals guilty of "providing material support to terrorists." The federal government’s argument for "material support" rested on evidence that many civil libertarians find deeply troubling. This evidence included the possession of a "printing press"—which was in reality a standard office printer, a paper cutter, and basic book-binding materials—used to produce anarchist zines. The prosecution also cited the defendants’ participation in a leftist book club as evidence of their involvement in a terrorist enterprise.
The federal government’s focus extended beyond literature to include basic security and privacy measures that have become common in the digital age. The use of Faraday bags to block wireless signals and prevent surveillance, the utilization of the encrypted messaging application Signal, and even the wearing of all-black clothing were all presented as indicators of criminal intent.
"The sheer breadth of NSPM-7’s mandate allows for common items to be tied to an invented ideology that the administration has defined and built up," the booksellers’ letter notes. This environment, they argue, "transmogrifies a stapler into an antifa terrorist stapler," providing the state with the justification to use the full weight of its power to crush dissent.
The consequences for those caught in the web of NSPM-7 are severe. The sentences handed down to the Prairieland protesters range from 30 to 100 years in federal prison—sentences that the signatories of the letter describe as "cruel and excessive" and effectively life sentences for exercising political speech.
Among those sentenced is Autumn Hill, a trans woman and activist who was given 50 years in prison. In an interview with The Nation, Hill, who is currently incarcerated in a men’s prison, articulated a philosophy that stands in stark contrast to the "violent, antisocial rhetoric" the administration associates with her movement. "My whole life is driven by this radical love and by this urgent need to see justice done," Hill told reporter Grace Byron.
