Politics
Federal Judge Rules Trump Can't Block Anyone on Twitter Anymore
It's unconstitutional for Trump to block users from seeing his tweets, the judge ruled.
May 23 2018 12:06 PM EST
May 23 2018 12:06 PM EST
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It's unconstitutional for Trump to block users from seeing his tweets, the judge ruled.
A New York federal judge Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump to unblock everyone he's barred from seeing his Twitter posts, ruling that doing violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"The blocking of the individual plaintiffs has the discrete impact of preventing them from interacting directly with the president's tweets, thereby restricting a real, albeit narrow, slice of speech. No more is needed to violate the Constitution," U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wrote in her opinion. Trump can also block no others going forward.
The case against @realDonaldTrump was filed by Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, which represented seven people the president has blocked on Twitter.
The plantiffs included people from all walks of life; a professor at the University of Maryland, a Tennessee surgery resident, a Seattle songwriter, a comedy writer in New York City, an author in Pittsburgh, a writer and legal analyst in Washington, D.C., and a police officer in Houston.
The lawsuit addressed both Trump and his social media coordinator, Dan Scavino.
Twitter users, whom Trump can no longer block, had a lot to say - especially people the oresident must now unblock.
\u201cIsn\u2019t the real question why isn\u2019t Twitter blocking Trump? https://t.co/9ofXZAMMu8\u201d— Chelsea Handler (@Chelsea Handler) 1527101325
\u201cBREAKING: U.S. Federal Judge, Naomi Reice Buchwald just ruled that President Trump can not block people on Wwitter, stating that it is unconstitutional!\n\nLooks like you will have to start reading my tweets again, you big Snowflake!\u201d— Ed Krassenstein (@Ed Krassenstein) 1527097021
\u201cBREAKING: .@RealDonaldTrump just announced a gag rule that would prohibit doctors from referring patients for abortion and block patients from care at PP.\n\nTweet at him now and tell him: he has no right to make decisions about your body. #NoGagRule #IStandWithPP\u201d— Jane Seymour Fonda (@Jane Seymour Fonda) 1527036517
\u201cThis is the tweet that made Trump block me. Now the United States District Court rules that the President\u2019s actions were clearly unconstitutional. \n\nUnblock me now, @realDonaldTrump. You are not above the law. https://t.co/LatUpnVNb6\u201d— Eugene Gu, MD (@Eugene Gu, MD) 1527098099
\u201c.@realDonaldTrump why would you block a group that is the voice of 550,000 servicemen, servicewomen and their families after they risked their life for your country? Wait that\u2019s right, you dodged the draft.\u201d— David Hogg \u262e\ufe0f (@David Hogg \u262e\ufe0f) 1527101399
\u201cCourt rules Twitter is a public forum, so Trump can't use it but then block critics based on their political views. If he wants to dispense criticism and other commentary, he has to take it, too. https://t.co/RzXLiTViYo\u201d— Kenneth Roth (@Kenneth Roth) 1527100567
\u201cDear @realDonaldTrump,\n\nA federal judge ruled that you cannot legally block me on Twitter, so I wrote you a haiku:\n\nyou are an asshole\nasshole asshole asshole ass\nhole asshole asshole\u201d— Middle Age Riot (@Middle Age Riot) 1527100477
\u201cSo does this mean Trump can't block me if I ask whether it's true he bathes in lukewarm tapioca and eats his bathwater when he's done\u201d— Jared Pecha\u010dek (@Jared Pecha\u010dek) 1527097367
"No government official is above the law and because all government officials are presumed to follow the law once the judiciary has said what the law is, we must assume that the president and Scavino will remedy the blocking we have held to be unconstitutional," explained Buchwald.
Meanwhile...
\u201cWITCH HUNT!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1527082446