Posted on 07/11/2017 2:06:23 PM PDT by Innovative
Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute is suing Donald Trump for blocking people on Twitter, claiming that it violates free speech protections. 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at theverge.com ...
The First Amendment gives people the right to speak, but people also have the right to not listen to them.
Trump doesn't want to read what some idiots are writing and he has the perfect right to that. Those people can post anything they want, so their First Amendment rights have not been impacted.
If there was any legal basis for what they're claiming, then why isn't Twitter named as a defendant?
Can I sue my Congressman if I write him an e-mail and I don’t get a reply? LOL.
There is no free speech protections on Twitter or Free Republic...duh.
The last I heard, you can block anyone you want.
Bullshiite.
There is a personal account @realDonaldTrump
and a public account @POTUS
If they’re not blocked from the @POTUS account, then they still have access to a public forum to air their views.
Trump being president doesn’t lose his rights to privacy, and though the @realDonaldTrump might be open to the public, he still has the right to limit those who have access to him.
People have the right to say what they want, they can’t force people to listen.
They know going out the gate that this is ridiculous, but they are seizing on any “opportunity” to try and gum up the works. It's just too bad we don't have better means of sanctioning this kind of activity. The fact is though, this is ALL THEY HAVE! The Left has virtually no power. It sucks today to be a Leftist.
It’s always sucked to be a leftist. They’ve just been too dumb to notice.
They can still go to his page and read his tweet history. Free speech doesn’t equate to a right to be heard. Will they demand his cell number, as well?
I wonder if the idiots suing block numbers on their cell phones, use a spam filter on their email...?
Better yet, why can’t we sue each and every “news” outlet which does not provide comments on their “news stories”? I find those outlets far less than credible. In an industry with almost no credibility to begin with.
What times I’ve followed a link to Trumps Twitter acct. a;; I see in the replies are nothing but juvenile,slanderous lies and re-tweeted anti-Trump memes.
A lot of leftwits seem to be getting through just fine.
Ohhhhh I have a whole list of Democrats that blocked me for speaking the truth.. can I start with Keith Ellenson?
wtf???
Damned glasses, keyboard, bad lighting, dog for eating my homework....
Bet these same homofascists have no problem with twitter and facebook throttling down post views
I don’t even go to news sites that don’t allow public comments. Most of the fun is reading what other people have to say.
Can’t any Twitter or Facebook user block whomever they want to block?
There goes restraining orders.
Judge better toss this
If he doesn't and the lefties win, would that mean that Twitter and/or FB (or FR) can no longer block anyone?
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