Court Says It's Unconstitutional For Trump To Block People On Twitter, But Doesn't Actually Order Him To Stop

Court Says It's Unconstitutional For Trump To Block People On Twitter, But Doesn't Actually Order Him To Stop

6 years ago
Anonymous $CLwNLde341

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180523/18033139894/court-says-unconstitutional-trump-to-block-people-twitter-doesnt-actually-order-him-to-stop.shtml

Just last month, we noted that a court in Kentucky had ruled that the Governor of that state was free to block critics on social media accounts, saying that while people are free to speak, the First Amendment does not mean that the Governor has to listen. As we noted at the time, that ruling did not bode well for a more high profile case that was filed by the Knight First Amendment Center at Columbia University against President Donald Trump under similar circumstances. However, as you may have heard, a federal court in New York has now ruled that Trump's blocking is unconstitutional.

This is, not surprisingly, getting lots of attention, but many people commenting on it are not fully understanding the actual issues in the lawsuit (shocking, I know, that people doing legal analysis on the internet might sometimes not get it right...). As we've noted plenty of times in the past, the First Amendment does not apply to private platforms, and nothing in this ruling means that Twitter is a "public forum" (as some nuttier lawyers are trying to argue in other cases). Instead, the ruling is specific that it is just the commentary in response to Donald Trump that has become a public forum.

Court Says It's Unconstitutional For Trump To Block People On Twitter, But Doesn't Actually Order Him To Stop

May 24, 2018, 7:38pm UTC
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180523/18033139894/court-says-unconstitutional-trump-to-block-people-twitter-doesnt-actually-order-him-to-stop.shtml > Just last month, we noted that a court in Kentucky had ruled that the Governor of that state was free to block critics on social media accounts, saying that while people are free to speak, the First Amendment does not mean that the Governor has to listen. As we noted at the time, that ruling did not bode well for a more high profile case that was filed by the Knight First Amendment Center at Columbia University against President Donald Trump under similar circumstances. However, as you may have heard, a federal court in New York has now ruled that Trump's blocking is unconstitutional. > This is, not surprisingly, getting lots of attention, but many people commenting on it are not fully understanding the actual issues in the lawsuit (shocking, I know, that people doing legal analysis on the internet might sometimes not get it right...). As we've noted plenty of times in the past, the First Amendment does not apply to private platforms, and nothing in this ruling means that Twitter is a "public forum" (as some nuttier lawyers are trying to argue in other cases). Instead, the ruling is specific that it is just the commentary in response to Donald Trump that has become a public forum.