SOUTHERN DISTRICT COURT OF NY RULES PUBLIC OFFICIALS INCLUDING TRUMP CANNOT BLOCK TWITTER ACCOUNTS

President Donald J. Trump

In a 75 page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that President Trump and/or any other public officials who block constituents from their Twitter page are violating the First Amendment rights of those citizens.

The defendants in the case include:  Donald J. Trump, Hope Hicks, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Daniel Scavino.

Here is an excerpt from the ruling, giving the court's essential opinion:

"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. In so holding, we reject the defendants’ contentions that the First Amendment does not apply in this case and that the President’s personal First Amendment interests supersede those of plaintiffs."

The suit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, as well as seven other plaintiffs who had been blocked on Twitter by Trump.

Of course, President Trump has largely eschewed presidential news conferences, preferring to send early morning tweets to his followers, tweets that reveal his state of mind, but also announce governmental policy, even before its revealed to his cabinet officers.

Commissioner Tetreau-Kalifa

Thinking about the possible effect of this ruling locally, two individuals, extremely active in social media, including Twitter, come to mind;  City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa and likely BISD School Board candidate Erasmo Castro.  While Tetreau-Kalifa has reportedly blocked Twitter accounts of locals, Castro is noted for blocking Facebook accounts of those who disagree with his views.(Facebook, another popular form of social media, was not mentioned in the judge's ruling.)

Erasmo Castro

Another aspect of Twitter allows members to limit their readership to "friends," excluding the general public.  The court has not ruled on the exercise of this option, but it seems to violate the spirit of the ruling and Constitution likely as a form of preemptive blocking, .

Judge Buchwald described Twitter as an "established public forum."