TOPLINE
The free speech organization that successfully argued that it is a First Amendment violation for President Donald Trump to block critics on his personal Twitter account sued him again on Friday for refusing to unblock certain individuals.
President Trump speaks during a press conference at White House on July 30.
KEY FACTS
The lawsuit filed in a New York federal court by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is a follow-up to the lawsuit the organization filed in 2017.
In May 2018, the federal court determined the president’s Twitter account is a public forum, and blocking people on the basis of viewpoint is a violation of the First Amendment.
Trump’s legal team appealed, arguing that Trump should be able to do what he pleases on his private account, but the decision was backed unanimously by a federal appeals court in July 2019 and the circuit court declined to review its decision this March.
Trump and his staff unblocked the plaintiffs named in the first court case and dozens of others, according to the lawsuit, but said on July 20 that the president did not intend to unblock two categories of individuals: people who can’t specify the tweet that provoked the president to block them and people who were blocked before the president took office.
The lawsuit argues that the categorical ban “unconstitutionally restricts” the individual’s rights to read or participate in the public forum, to access public statements and to “petition the government for redress of grievances.”
crucial quote
“Since he took office, the President has consistently used the Account as an important tool of governance and executive outreach,” U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote in the opinion, adding that government officials can’t exclude people “from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.”
key background
Trump isn’t the only public official to be sued for blocking people on social media. Last January, in a case also argued by the Knight Institute, a Virginia appellate court ruled in favor of a resident who was temporarily blocked from the Facebook page of a local public official. The court determined it was unconstitutional because the page is considered a public forum. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., NY) was sued last July for blocking a Twitter user who criticized her policies on her personal account. At first, she defended it saying that it was her personal account, not her government one, but in November she settled the lawsuit and issued a public apology.
further reading
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Apologizes for Blocking Twitter Critic (Wall Street Journal)
