Politics and views in the United States.

Speaker Johnson cites constitutional limits to a third presidential term. Groups plan nationwide protests against executive overreach. Students raise concerns over academic freedom following a visa-related arrest in Boston. And U.S. Senate resolution aims to block new tariffs on Canada.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

There's the constitutional paths.

You have to amend the Constitution to do it, and that's a high bar.

But I think he recognizes the constitutional limitations, and I'm not sure that there's a move about to amend the Constitution.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says President Donald Trump knows staying in office at the end of his term would require changing the Constitution, a very hard thing to do.

But Trump's use of executive power continues to meet protests with rallies planned nationwide for Saturday.

Cole Dragota is with 50/51NC, which is organizing the events in North Carolina.

The majority of the people in our organization are either on Social Security or receive Medicaid or Medicare, and a lot of them are concerned that they're going to lose that.

Results are in from key races in Florida and Wisconsin.

In Florida's 6th District, Republican former state Senator Randy Fine won the special election for the seat that had been held by Mike Waltz, who resigned to become national security adviser.

In spite of beating schoolteacher Josh Wheel by 11 points in a district that went for Trump by nearly three times that margin, Fine is voicing confidence.

I'm going to help Donald Trump get his agenda done.

Look, the House majority is very small.

And while Donald Trump can sign amazing executive orders and take executive actions, he needs Congress to put it into law.

In Wisconsin, turnout is high in an expensive and contentious state Supreme Court race between conservative Brad Schimmel and progressive Susan Crawford.

Billionaire and presidential adviser Elon Musk's $22 million donation to Schimmel has drawn national attention and sparked a People vs.

Musk pushback from Democrats.

The contests are seen as early signals ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Meanwhile, students are raising alarms over what they call threats to academic freedom and free speech.

Students in New Hampshire are protesting the detainment of Romesa Ozturk, a Tufts University doctoral candidate arrested last week by masked immigration agents.

Ozturk, who held a student visa, is now in an out-of-state detention facility.

University of New Hampshire grad student Stephanie Black, with the Palestine Solidarity Coalition, says her group wants the university to declare itself a sanctuary for migrants.

It's an alarming pattern in which students are being targeted simply for exercising their First Amendment rights.

And it's a direct attack on academic freedom.

Tension is building in Congress over trade policy.

Several Democrats in the Senate are backing a resolution to block new Trump tariffs on Canadian goods.

They argue the tariffs benefit billionaires at the expense of small business owners.

Lawmakers pressed the nominee for chair of the Joint Chiefs about Signalgate at a confirmation hearing.

When asked about the leaked Signalgroup chat discussing Yemen airstrikes, Lt. Gen. John Kaine replied that he always uses proper secured channels for communication.

I'm Farah Sidiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.