U.S. Supreme Court REJECTS Republicans On Social Media Censorship
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the challenge by two Republican state officials and groups of conservative social media users to the White House’s demand that social media companies take down what President Joe Biden’s administration terms misinformation.
The justices voted 6-3 Wednesday against the plaintiffs in the case, ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring the case.
On the case, Justice Amy Coney-Barrett said, “To establish standing, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a substantial risk that, in the near future, they will suffer an injury that is traceable to a government defendant and redressable by the injunction they seek. Because no plaintiff has carried that burden, none has standing to seek a preliminary injunction.”
Barrett acknowledged evidence that the White House “was playing a role” in the push for social media moderation but said this was not enough to justify an injunction. The filing included references to an instance where Facebook had restricted a post from a Louisiana state representative, suggesting that the Biden administration has been effectively leaning on big tech companies.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito penned the dissent, writing that the case was “one of the most important free speech cases to reach this Court in years.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch joined Alito’s dissent.
“It was blatantly unconstitutional, and the country may come to regret the Court’s failure to say so,” he wrote, adding, “For months, high-ranking Government officials placed unrelenting pressure on Facebook to suppress Americans’ free speech. Because the Court unjustifiably refuses to address this serious threat to the First Amendment, I respectfully dissent.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also slammed the court’s decision, saying that while it was welcome because Biden sought to have provisions invalidated, “this ruling does not dispute” that “the deep state pressured and coerced social media companies to take down truthful speech simply because it was conservative.”
“My rallying cry to disappointed Americans is this: Missouri is not done,” Bailey added. “We are going back to the district court to obtain more discovery in order to root out Joe Biden’s vast censorship enterprise once and for all.”
The Daily Wire is also suing the Biden administration in another social media censorship case, based on claims that since taking office the State Department has been working with and elevating the use of technology used to bankrupt domestic media outlets considered politically undesirable.
The Daily Wire is co-plaintiffs in the case with The Federalist and State of Texas.
