An appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment when it tried to pressure social media companies to regulate content regarding COVID-19.
The ruling, handed down on Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, revolves around the federal government’s role in trying to regulate speech online.
The decision was made by a three-judge panel of the appeals court, all of whom were appointed by Republican presidents – two by George W. Bush and one by Donald Trump.
The judge were unanimous in their decision that the FBI, health officials and the White House all might have infringed on people’s rights under the First Amendment when it pressured big tech companies to either remove or suppress content that was related to both the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The efforts, according to the judges’ verdict, amounted to coercion, which could be considered a potential violation of rights to free speech. In their ruling, they said it was inappropriate for the FBI, the surgeon general, the FBI, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and President Joe Biden to try to get social media companies to remove content that they believed was troublesome.
As the panel wrote:
“The officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints and content disfavored by the government. The harms that radiate from such conduct extend far beyond just the Plaintiffs; it impacts every social-media user.”
The Biden administration now has 10 days to ask the Supreme Court to review the case, which seems like a strong possibility.
NPR reported that the order from the three-judge panel narrows the injunction’s scope that previously only targeted the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.
The new rule will apply to the FBI, the CDC, the surgeon general and the White House.
The case initially came from a lawsuit that was filed by Louisiana and Missouri, four people who published dissenting views on the COVID-19 policies of the federal government, as well as the owner of a conservative website.
The suit accused officials with the government of coercing the social media companies to remove content that revolved around topics such as how the FBI handled the Hunter Biden laptop situation, the COVID-19 pandemic and election fraud.
Jeff Landry, the attorney general of Louisiana, wrote on X, which was formerly known as Twitter, that the ruling was a “major win against censorship.”
And Andrew Bailey, the attorney general of Missouri, wrote on X:
“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.”
The White House issued a statement in response to the ruling, which read:
“DOJ is reviewing the court’s decision and will evaluate its options in this case.”
