The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that found President Trump
Donald John TrumpFive takeaways from the Democratic National Convention What we will remember from the 2020 Biden Convention Chris Wallace labels Biden’s acceptance speech ‘extremely effective’ MAY broke the First Amendment by blocking its critics on Twitter.
The lawsuit arose in 2017 after Trump’s social media account blocked seven people who had tweeted criticism of the president in comment threads linked to his @realDonaldTrump Twitter handle.
Lower federal courts have ruled that Trump’s Twitter account, where he often ventures into official matters, is a public forum and that blocking his detractors violated their constitutional protection of acquittal.
In their petition to the Supreme Court on Thursday, attorneys for the Department of Justice (DOJ) urge the courts to pass a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit against Trump repent.
The DOJ claimed that the appeals court had erred in finding Trump’s Twitter account as a public forum, and failed to recognize enough that many of Trump’s social media posts form private rather than governmental.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the seven blocked Twitter users, urges the judiciary to deny Trump’s appeal.
“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 disagree with their political views,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight Institute.
“The Supreme Court must reject the White House petition and leave the careful and well-reasoned decision of the higher appeal in place,” he said.
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