The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group of First Amendment scholars, and a group of federal courts scholars filed amicus briefs yesterday in support of a lawsuit filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University contending that President Trump violated the Constitution by blocking seven people from his Twitter account because of their viewpoints. The three amicus briefs support the Knight Institute’s Friday evening filing in the lawsuit, in which the Institute argued that the president’s Twitter account is subject to the First Amendment and the court has the authority to stop the president and his aides from violating First Amendment rights.
EFF’s amicus brief contends that social media platforms — and government officials’ social media accounts in particular — play a significant role in democratic discourse and the democratic process, and therefore must be regulated by the First Amendment. Social media is also used to communicate vital public safety information, and punishing someone by denying them access can have dire consequences. Read the brief and a summary of the arguments.
“Governmental use of social media platforms to communicate to and with the public, and allow the public to communicate with each other, is pervasive. It is seen all across the country, at every level of government. It is now the rule of democratic engagement, not the exception,” said EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene. “The First Amendment prohibits the exclusion of individuals from these forums based on their viewpoint. President Trump’s blocking of people on Twitter because he doesn’t like their views infringes on their right to receive public messages from government and participate in the democratic process.”
A group of eight federal courts scholars joined an amicus brief prepared by Brian Burgess and Andrew Kim of Goodwin Procter with Professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas Law School. The brief contends that the court has the authority to enjoin the president for his official conduct, and that the ruling in the case Mississippi v. Johnson does not prohibit the court from doing so, in light of more recent Supreme Court cases. Read the brief.
“Our brief offers a modest contribution by highlighting how, contrary to the government’s argument, federal courts can — and periodically do — issue coercive relief directly against a sitting president,” said Vladeck. “The government relies for the contrary view on language taken out of context from a 150-year-old Supreme Court decision, but as we demonstrate, that language, even read for all it’s worth, has been overtaken by subsequent events — and for good reason.”
The final amicus brief was filed by Georgetown Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection on behalf of seven First Amendment scholars, including Erwin Chemerinsky, Lyrissa Lidsky, and Larry Tribe. ICAP’s brief argues that, by fostering a dialogue on @realDonaldTrump that includes official statements of government policy, responses by other Twitter users, and replies by the president to those responses, the president has created a digital-age public forum under the First Amendment, which prohibits viewpoint discrimination such as blocking critics. Read the brief and a summary of the arguments.
“This case is about applying established First Amendment principles to emerging technologies,” said ICAP’s Executive Director and Visiting Professor of Law Joshua Geltzer. “When the government creates a space for public discussion and debate, whether in a physical or virtual setting, it creates a public forum. The Constitution then bars the government from silencing those who question it and giving voice only to those who praise it.”
About the Knight Institute
The Knight First Amendment Institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization established by Columbia University and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to defend the freedoms of speech and press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education.