Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia v. Trump
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
928 F.3d 226 (2019)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
Donald Trump (defendant) had a Twitter account before becoming president. After his inauguration, he used that account to communicate and interact with the public as president. The account and associated web page appeared official, the White House director of social media helped Trump operate the account, and White House officials described Trump’s tweets as “official statements by the President.” Trump also used his Twitter account to conduct official business, such as announcing administration staff and major policy changes and communicating with foreign officials. The National Archives concluded that Trump’s tweets qualified as official records belonging to the public, which must be maintained under federal law. In 2017 Trump blocked some Twitter users (coplaintiffs) who posted replies that criticized him or his policies from the account. Blocked users could not see Trump’s tweets once logged in, post replies, or participate in discussion threads on the associated web page. Blocked users could arguably create new accounts or use workarounds to see Trump’s tweets and post comments on their own timelines, but it was more difficult to contribute and participate. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia (coplaintiff) and blocked users sued, asserting that Trump engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint-based discrimination by blocking users who disagreed with him. After the federal judge declared Trump’s conduct unconstitutional, Trump appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Parker, J.)
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