A lower court judgment that numerous government officials, including the Biden administration, are barred from contacting social media businesses regarding content moderation has been upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The lawsuit (Missouri v. Biden) was initially brought in May 2022 by Eric Schmitt, a former Missouri attorney general and current US senator, and Jeff Landry, the current attorney general of Louisiana.
The Washington Examiner reports, “The district judge had placed a preliminary injunction in July prohibiting the defendants, including President Joe Biden, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and former chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, from contacting social media companies over content it believes to be misinformation.”
“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, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Friday.
Bailey added, “The First Amendment remains intact.”
“Missouri v. Biden was originally filed by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) when he was attorney general of Missouri. The lawsuit alleges that the federal government is influencing social media companies to violate First Amendment free speech rights held by a platform’s users,” the Examiner report added.
Within the next ten days, the Biden administration can ask the Supreme Court to review the case.
