Federal judge says Trump, other politicians cannot block people on Twitter
Updated Posted
NEW YORK -- A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump and other government officials may not block others users on Twitter from being able to see their tweets.
The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald found that Trump's tweets are part of the "public forum" doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court and as such, blocking users is "viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment."
No damages will be awarded in the case, however the president and other government officials must abide by the ruling.
"A declaratory judgment should be sufficient, as no government official -- including the President -- is above the law, and all government officials are presumed to follow the law as has been declared," Buchwald wrote.
The judge later wrote that instead of blocking users who government officials do not want to interact with, the should mute those accounts. By muting the accounts, the officials will not see the tweets from those accounts, but the users will be able to see tweets from government officials and will not have their first amendment rights impeded on because they will be able to comment the president's position.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that by blocking users, Trump was prohibiting citizens from seeing his public statements about policy and U.S. affairs, which the Supreme Court has ruled are part of the public forum. The plaintiffs also argued that by removing the ability to tweet at the president, their first amendment rights were being violated.
A similar issue has also popped up regarding government officials deleting tweets as users have argued that deleted tweets is akin to removing statements from public meeting minutes.
Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders were among the defendants named in the suit.
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