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Why a judge says @realDonaldTrump can’t block opponents

By ALEXANDRA VILLARREAL
and BARBARA ORTUTAY
Associated Press
President Donald Trump
can do many things on
Twitter. He can call a for-
mer FBI director “slippery”
and a former president
“cheatin’.” He can spon-
taneously SWITCH TO ALL
CAPS and claim media
organizations are “fake
news.”
But now there’s one thing
a federal judge says Trump
can’t do: Block users be-
cause of dissenting political
opinions.
U.S. District Judge Naomi
Reice Buchwald in New
York ruled last Wednesday
that Trump violates the
First Amendment when he
blocks critics on Twitter. The
decision is the most promi-
nent among a string of
similar cases against public This April 3, 2017, file photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter feed on a computer screen in Washington.
officials and could mark a Associated Press
turning point for constitu- official business. —an action that some say ry Hogan agreed to adopt ances, including on social
ents who interact with gov- But though the courts may has fewer First Amendment a new social media policy media.
ernment employees on so- be striking up a conversa- implications. that would not discriminate “If the president doesn’t
cial media. tion about what an official’s Trump is far from the only against commenters’ view- want to hear from his crit-
“The First Amendment is online presence means for public official who has points after he blocked ics, he should stick to press
designed to encourage free speech, tech com- blocked opponents. several critics. releases,” Finan said.
the greatest amount of panies are unlikely to take After filing a public records Though last week’s ruling Attorneys warned that if
freedom in communicat- sides. request with 22 federal puts officials using social Wednesday’s ruling had
ing with public officials of NOT JUST TRUMP agencies and all 50 U.S. media for policymaking gone differently, it could
all kinds, and that’s why this Trump has blocked both governors last year, news on notice that they can’t have set a precedent for
is such an important deci- celebrities — including organization ProPublica block people who disagree elected officials tempted
sion — because it sends a author Stephen King and found the offices that re- with them, attorneys said it to rid themselves of their
message to all politicians,” model Chrissy Teigen — sponded had blocked leaves room to bar com- online critics.
said Chris Finan, executive and lesser known social 1,298 social media ac- menters who are inhibiting WHAT COMES NEXT
director of the National Co- media users. counts. productive discourse. Jameel Jaffer, the Knight
alition Against Censorship. The case decided last When a Virginia official TWITTER AND THE CONSTITU- Institute’s executive direc-
Kerri Kupec, a spokeswom- week was brought by the blocked one Facebook TION tor, said none of the people
an for the Department of Knight First Amendment user for 12 hours, a federal According to the U.S. Con- his group represents have
Justice, said in an email Institute at Columbia Uni- judge ruled the move was stitution, the president must been unblocked yet.
after the ruling: “We re- versity on behalf of seven unconstitutional. The case provide Congress with in- Twitter probably won’t in-
spectfully disagree with the critics of Trump whom his is under appeal in the 4th formation about the state tervene as social media
court’s decision and are account blocked. U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- of the union. Otherwise, his juggernauts have kept out
considering our next steps.” When someone like Trump peals. obligations to communi- of the issue. The tech com-
Though the ruling stopped blocks people, it prevents In Kentucky, a federal cate with citizens are fairly pany did not respond to re-
short of ordering Trump them from seeing his feed judge denied a preliminary nebulous. quests for comment.
to unblock users, it made and replying to his tweets. injunction to stop the gov- But First Amendment ex- Jaffer said it would be ex-
clear that people have It’s also possible for Trump ernor from blocking constit- perts say members of the traordinary if the White
a right to reply directly to to mute accounts, after uents on Twitter and Face- government cannot im- House disregarded the
politicians’ accounts when which he would simply no book. pede free speech in pub- court’s decision, but says
they are being used as longer see tweets and re- A case in Maryland settled lic forums or keep people he’ll be back in court if it
public forums to conduct plies from those accounts when Republican Gov. Lar- from petitioning their griev- does.q