President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to allow him block critics from his personal Twitter rack. The administration said in a high court submission Thursday that Trump’s @realdonaldtrump account, with more than 85 million followers, is his personal property, claiming that blocking it is tantamount to elected officials denying their opponents’ signatures. to leave their front lawns.
“President Trump’s ability to use the features of his personal Twitter account, including the blocking feature, is independent of his presidential office,” Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Wall wrote, urging the judiciary to investigate the case.
The federal appeals court in New York ruled last year that Mr. Trump uses the account to make daily statements and observations that are overwhelmingly official. It noted that Mr. Trump wrote the First Amendment when he blocked a critic from taking a stand.
A decision on whether to hear the case itself is unlikely to be forthcoming for the November elections.
The case grew out of a challenge brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute at the University of Columbia, who on behalf of seven people blocked charges by Mr. Trump after criticizing his policies.
Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight Institute, said the judiciary should reject the appeal of Mr. To include Trump.
“This case stands for a principle that is fundamental to our democracy and in principle synonymous with the First Amendment: government officials cannot exclude people from public forums simply because they do not agree with their political views,” Jaffer said in a statement. .
The administration argued in its higher appeal that the Supreme Court, not lower courts, “should decide where the line should be drawn between personal decisions of the president and official conduct.”
The pace of the case was slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as by Mr. Trump’s decision to ask the entire 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the verdict through a panel of three judges. The court refused to do so by a 7-2 vote in March. Two Trump nominees, Judges Michael H. Park and Richard J. Sullivan, were the only members of the court who were with the president.
The Supreme Court extended its deadline to appeal from 90 days to 150 days, when it closed the building to the public and left personal meetings due to the outbreak of viruses.
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