Federal Judge Rules That Trump Cannot Block People From His Twitter Feed

We seem to have nothing but Hawaiian judges now.

President Donald J. Trump can't block his critics from following his personal Twitter account, a federal judge ruled.

The judge said the comment section of Trump’s personal account, @realDonaldTrump, is a public forum and that blocking users on the basis of political speech is a violation of their free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

I'm pretty sure that Democrat officials have me blocked-- Senators like Claire McCaskill -- so, will this judge demand they hear my criticisms?

...

"This case requires us to consider whether a public official may, consistent with the First Amendment, 'block' a person from his Twitter account in response to the political views that person has expressed, and whether the analysis differs because that public official is the President of the United States," Buchwald said. "The answer to both questions is no."

The judge declined to issue an order forcing Trump to unblock the users, saying her ruling should be sufficient to force a change in behavior.

The judge declined to issue an order because she has no power to order an Article II executive to do anything.

I hope Trump simply ignores her.

Update:

posted by Ace of Spades at 02:43 PM

| Access Comments