First Amendment advocates sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying it is unconstitutional to block his critics from following him on Twitter.
The Manhattan federal court lawsuit from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University cited seven individuals rejected by Trump or his aides after criticizing the president. Besides Trump, the lawsuit also named as defendants White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Dan Scavino, White House director of social media.
First Amendment advocates sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying it is unconstitutional to block his critics from following him on Twitter.
The Manhattan federal court lawsuit from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University cited seven individuals rejected by Trump or his aides after criticizing the president. Besides Trump, the lawsuit also named as defendants White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Dan Scavino, White House director of social media.
Among plaintiffs was Rebecca Buckwalter, a Washington-based writer and political consultant who was blocked from the account on June 6 after she replied to Trump’s tweet saying he would have had “ZERO chance winning WH” if he’d relied on “Fake News” from major media outlets. Buckwalter received over 9,000 likes and 3,300 retweets after posting: “To be fair you didn’t win the WH: Russia won it for you,” according to the lawsuit.
Others to be blocked included Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociology professor who called Trump a “Corrupt Incompetent Authoritarian,” and Holly Figueroa, a national political organizer and songwriter who was cut off May 28 after posting an image of the pope looking incredulously at Trump, along with the statement: “This is pretty much how the whole world sees you,” the lawsuit said.
