Citing First Amendment, 2nd Circuit Says Trump Can't Block Twitter Users
President Donald Trump can't block Twitter users from his official account, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, upholding U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued…
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Trump for blocking users from @realDonaldTrump after they criticized him (see 1806050068). The White House claimed the account was a personal one. The 2nd Circuit disagreed, saying the account and “webpage associated with it bear all the trappings of an official, state-run account.” The opinion, by Judge Barrington Parker on behalf of himself, Christopher Droney and Peter Hall, called the account “one of White House’s main vehicles for conducting official business.” The First Amendment “does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” it said. The White House referred us to DOJ, which said it's exploring possible next steps. “As we argued, President Trump’s decision to block users from his personal twitter account does not violate the First Amendment,” said a spokesperson.