Posted on 03/16/2024 4:52:57 PM PDT by Twotone
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, addressing free speech rights in the digital age, decided on Friday that government officials can sometimes be sued under the Constitution's First Amendment for blocking critics on social media.
In unanimous decisions in two cases from California and Michigan, the justices set a new standard for determining if public officials acted in a governmental capacity when blocking critics on social media - a test to be applied in lawsuits accusing them of violating the First Amendment.
First Amendment protections for free speech generally constrain government actors, not private individuals. Under the new test, officials are considered to have engaged in governmental action if they had "actual authority to speak on behalf of the state on a particular matter" and "purported to exercise that authority in the relevant posts."
The justices threw out decisions by lower courts in the two cases involving lawsuits brought under the First Amendment by people who were blocked after posting criticisms on the social media accounts of local officials. The justices directed the lower courts to revisit the cases based on the new standard.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This is huge!
Good. Trump can start filing lawsuits for about $150 million each
Looks like a solid win for the 1st amendment against the noodle-arm, 50 IQ, fascist deep state.
So does that mean that Joe’s YouTube channel can be sued because they don’t allow any comments at all.
Supreme Court 9-0 made a statement that is related.
Unanimous Supreme Court Decision Warns About Future Lawfare Cases Against Trump (Mar 14, 2024)
Robert Barnes makes clear that Chief Justice Roberts is not doing this from the love of the Constitution, but from the point of protecting the Judicial branch.
Governor Creosote, here I come!
L
Great!
Now the Sunday morning shows are going to be full of democrat-communists yelling about adding 15 or 20 more SC justices.
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