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Blocked by @realDonaldTrump: Unconstitutional?

posted by martyb on Wednesday July 12 2017, @01:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the silence-all-disagreement-and-only-agreement-will-be-seen dept.

takyon writes:

Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute has filed a lawsuit against President Trump for blocking seven users on Twitter, claiming that the action violates the users' First Amendment right to participate in a public political forum:

The institute filed suit today on behalf of seven Twitter users who were blocked by the president, which prevents them from seeing or replying to his tweets. It threatened legal action in a letter to Trump in June, and now "asks the court to declare that the viewpoint-based blocking of people from the @realDonaldTrump account is unconstitutional."

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, elaborates on the Knight Institute's earlier letter. It contends that Trump's Twitter account is a public political forum where citizens have a First Amendment right to speak. Under this theory, blocking users impedes their right to participate in a political conversation and stops them from viewing official government communication. Therefore, if Trump blocks people for criticizing his political viewpoints, he'd be doing the equivalent of kicking them out of a digital town hall.

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  • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:29PM (1 child)

    by hemocyanin (186) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:29PM (#538154) Journal

    only ONE thing

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 12 2017, @11:12PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday July 12 2017, @11:12PM (#538424) Journal

    Cleric: And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to two, no more, no less. Two shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be two. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou one, excepting that thou then proceed to two. Five is right out. Once the number two, being the second number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
            Brother Maynard: Amen.
            All: Amen.
            King Arthur: Right. Zero... one... five!
            Galahad: Two, sir.
            King Arthur: Two! [throws the grenade]

    With humble apologies to Sir Monty Python, Sir Esquire, the Sir Second, Sir Jr.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---