The Supreme Court paused a lower court decision Thursday that limited the Biden Administration from pushing social media firms to remove what it considers to be misinformation about matters like Covid-19 and the 2020 presidential election.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued the administrative stay Thursday. (Photo by Chip ... [+]
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay freezing a Louisiana district court’s ruling until September 22 and giving the high court more time to consider the Biden Administration’s request to block the decision.
Last week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the White House, FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Surgeon General cannot "coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce … posted social-media content containing protected free speech,” in a ruling that partially upheld the Louisiana court’s decision.
The Biden Administration called for the Supreme Court to issue a stay so it could prepare to appeal the ruling, which materialized in response to a lawsuit from the GOP attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri accusing government officials of coercing social media into moderating or removing content protected under the First Amendment.
The Justice Department said it would appeal the order by October 13, according to Reuters. Alito’s order also said the plaintiffs should respond on or before September 20.
A Louisiana judge found in July that government officials specifically coerced Meta, Facebook, YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, into squashing Covid-19 and election fraud posts that were legally protected under the First Amendment. The ruling was partially upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week, but its scope was narrowed to exclude government agencies like the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who called for the Supreme Court to block the Louisiana injunction, criticized it as “vastly overbroad” and said the court imposed limits on the FBI’s ability to address national security threats and the CDC’s ability to “relay public health information at platforms’ request,” according to NBC.
US Supreme Court freezes order curbing Biden administration social media contacts (Reuters)