A federal appeals court ruled that Trump has been violating the Constitution by blocking his critics or people that make fun of him on Twitter.
Trump can’t block critics on Twitter
The New York Times reported:
Because Mr. Trump uses Twitter for to conduct government business, he cannot exclude some Americans from reading his posts — and engaging in conversations in the replies to them — because he does not like their views, a three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled unanimously.
Writing for the panel, Judge Barrington D. Parker noted that the conduct of the government and its officials are subject today to a “wide-open, robust debate” that “generates a level of passion and intensity the likes of which have rarely been seen.” The First Amendment prohibits an official who uses a social media account for government purposes from excluding people from an “otherwise open online dialogue” because they say things the official disagrees with, he wrote.
“This debate, as uncomfortable and as unpleasant as it frequently may be, is nonetheless a good thing,” Judge Parker wrote. “In resolving this appeal, we remind the litigants and the public that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to disfavored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less.”
A Big Loss For Trump’s Claim That He Is “Expressing Opinions” On Twitter
Trump has created the blanket excuse that he is allowed to do whatever he wants on Twitter, because he is “expressing his opinions,” and he has a right to free speech. This ruling blows a hole in that dubious claim, by reaffirming that the President Of The United States is not a private citizen, and is held to a different standard of rules, regulations, and constitutional behavior. Donald Trump’s Twitter account is not the same as that of a private citizen. The fact that Trump uses the account to official announcements shatters his imaginary line between public and private.
The ruling is also the biggest of the social media age for determining how public officials can use their accounts.
Trump can’t block people on Twitter because he is not a private citizen, and the impact of that ruling could touch everything from Trump’s hiding of his tax returns to the violations of recordkeeping laws.
It might seem small, but this is a big loss for Donald Trump.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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