On Thursday, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision and give President Donald Trump the opportunity to block his criticism on Twitter.
The petition seeks to reopen a case decided by a New York federal judge in 2018. At the time, Judge Naomi Buchwald said that Trump wrote the First Amendment when he tried to stifle his online criticism because parts of his Twitter account are considered a public forum. A three-judge panel upheld the appeal.
The Supreme Court’s petition on Thursday alleges that the lower courts were wrong.
“The president uses his account to speak to the public, not to give members of the public a forum to talk to and with each other,” the petition reads.
The Knight First Amendment Institute, which brought the original case, said the court should dismiss the petition.
“This case stands for a principle that is fundamental to our democracy: government officials cannot suppress the speech simply because they do not agree with the message,” said Jameel Jaffer, the organization’s executive director, in a statement.
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