A federal judge has just ruled that Trump cannot block users from his Twitter feed, suggesting it violates the First Amendment:
Breaking -->>>
— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) May 23, 2018
*TRUMP CAN'T BLOCK USERS FROM HIS TWITTER FEED, JUDGE RULES
*TRUMP'S FEED IS A 'PUBLIC FORUM,' FEDERAL JUDGE IN N.Y. SAYS
*JUDGE SAYS TRUMP BLOCKING USERS VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT@BobVanVoris
This ruling doesn’t make any sense. Twitter isn’t a government created public space. It’s a private forum that happens to have millions of users. Telling Trump what to do with his Twitter account is also telling Twitter how they must operate their business. It’s ridiculous.
And not that it matters, but Trump is using his personal account on Twitter. He’s not using the @POTUS account which is what he’d use for official purposes for the Office of President.
The first amendment protects you from the government infringing on your right to free speech in the public forum. In order to make this fit her ruling, the judge had to twist the first amendment and rule that Trump’s account on Twitter is a ‘public forum’:
We hold that portions of the @realDonaldTrump account — the “interactive space” where Twitter users may directly engage with the content of the President’s tweets — are properly analyzed under the “public forum” doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court, that such space is a designated public forum, and that the blocking of the plaintiffs based on their political speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment.
While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the President’s personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him.
So part of Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum when Twitter itself is not a public forum? Stupid.
By the way, in case you’re wondering this judge is a Bill Clinton appointee.
Here’s the full ruling if you want some reading entertainment: