The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholds a lower court’s ruling prohibiting many government officials, including the Biden administration, from contacting social media companies about content moderation.
Former Missouri Attorney General and current US Senator Eric Schmitt, along with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, filed the lawsuit (Missouri v. Biden) in May 2022. Jim Hoft, the founder of the Gateway Pundit, was subsequently added as a plaintiff in the case.
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.
The Biden administration has ten days to request the Supreme Court review the case.