Article

2017-07-12 Home Front: Politix

Free-speech group sues Trump for blocking Twitter users

[Al Jazeera] A free-speech group on Tuesday sued US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
for blocking Twitter users from his @realDonaldTrump account, arguing the practice violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The lawsuit, brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in New York and joined by seven individual Twitter users, claims Trump blocked a number of accounts whose owners replied to his tweets with comments that criticised, mocked or disagreed with the president.

Trump's blocking of the accounts amounted to an unconstitutional effort to suppress dissent, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York.

Because Trump frequently turns to Twitter to make policy statements, his account qualifies as a public forum from which the government cannot exclude people on the basis of their views, according to the lawsuit.

Twitter users are unable to see or respond to tweets from accounts that block them.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month White House front man Sean Spicer said Trump's tweets were considered "official statements by the president of the United States".

The suit names Spicer and Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media, as defendants in addition to Trump. It asks for the blocking to be deemed unconstitutional and seeks an injunction to require the president to unblock users.

Federal agencies and courts treat Trump's tweets as official statements, and The National Archives and Records Administration has advised the White House that the tweets must be preserved under the Presidential Records Act, the lawsuit said.

Posted by Fred 2017-07-12 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 I hope these losers have to pay solid four figure sums for court costs on a clearly frivolous suit.

Posted by Raj 2017-07-12 01:29|| 2017-07-12 01:29|| Front Page Top

#2 Twitter is the organization who set up the rules for blocking Twitter users. Trump just used the system. If I defriended or blocked someone on Facebook, would I get sued for doing so? Another frivolous lawsuit junking up the courts.

Posted by JohnQC 2017-07-12 07:18|| 2017-07-12 07:18|| Front Page Top

#3 Now they just have to find a liberal Activist Judge...

Posted by CrazyFool 2017-07-12 07:51|| 2017-07-12 07:51|| Front Page Top

#4 So many Judges, so little time.

Posted by Snavimble Omeart9524 2017-07-12 08:12|| 2017-07-12 08:12|| Front Page Top

#5 Shouldn't be to hard, CrazyFool. There is a plethora of them out there.

Posted by DarthVader 2017-07-12 09:14|| 2017-07-12 09:14|| Front Page Top

#6 Because some liberals realize Trump has been making the rest of the liberals look like clowns using Twitter so they are hoping to take away his weapon.

Posted by rjschwarz 2017-07-12 10:14|| 2017-07-12 10:14|| Front Page Top

#7 Unblocking Trump is a sword that cuts both ways.

Posted by gorb 2017-07-12 11:08|| 2017-07-12 11:08|| Front Page Top

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