A federal judge ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump has to stop blocking people on Twitter because it violates the First Amendment — the first time the courts have had to weigh in on presidential tweets.
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, a judge in the Southern District of New York appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled that Trump blocking Twitter users from his @realDonaldTrump account because he disagrees with their views infringes on those users’ First Amendment rights because the president’s Twitter account is a public forum.
Instead, Buchwald suggested, Trump could just mute his critics instead.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed the suit, along with a handful of individuals whom Donald Trump blocked. Dan Scavino, Trump’s social media guru who has access to the Twitter account, was also named in the suit. (As was Hope Hicks, but she’s since left, and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who actually doesn’t have access to the president’s Twitter account, according to the judge.)
While this Twitter lawsuit is probably low on the list of Trump’s lawsuits and legal issues, it underscores how deeply Trump and his Twitter account are intertwined. Blocking is unconstitutional. But Trump can mute all he wants.
The judge ruled that the president’s Twitter account is a public forum, just like a public park might be.
-Ebiwali
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