The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision in the case of Missouri v. Biden, which was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. This is a massive win for free speech.
“The Fifth Circuit has upheld the district court’s order in our free speech case, Missouri v. Biden, enjoining the White House, Surgeon General, CDC, & FBI from violating the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey posted on X on Friday.
Bailey asserted that the White House pushed social media companies to censor Americans’ speech in violation of the First Amendment.
That is against the law, and the White House broke it.
The 74-page opinion was published late Friday.
The Court stated that government officials pressured social media platforms to suppress viewpoints they disapproved of such as those relating to Covid-19, election security, and Hunter Biden.
“Ultimately, we find the district court did not err in determining that several officials—namely the White House, the Surgeon General, the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], and the FBI—likely coerced or significantly encouraged social-media platforms to moderate content, rendering those decisions state actions,” the three-judge panel wrote. “In doing so, the officials likely violated the First Amendment.”
The judges on the panel, Edith Brown Clement, Don Willett and Jennifer Walker Elrod, were appointed by Republican presidents, the Wall Street Journal noted.
They put fewer restrictions on the government than in the Missouri case.
This is a crucial 1st Amendment case defining the boundaries of government as overseers of social media platforms.
The White House made explicit and subtle threates:
Here the Court notes that the feds engaged in a “broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social media companies into suppressing content disfavored by the government” pic.twitter.com/82dzGpIJkL
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) September 9, 2023
The Court found the White House violated the 1st Amendment. Additionally, Joe Biden threatened to punish those who didn’t censor as he ordained.
The Court notes that Joe Biden’s WH had “plans to punish” social media platforms if they refused to censor speech pic.twitter.com/Zpb1CrD5Ds
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) September 9, 2023
