President Joe Biden and his team stand accused of grossly violating the First Amendment and demonstrating a chilling willingness to seize control of discourse. This unmasking of Biden’s Orwellian activity was first revealed in the " Twitter files " last year and was further bolstered by similar revelations from Facebook. This evidence is at the heart of Missouri v. Biden, a case that is being reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit this week.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s initial ruling in the case found that the evidence presented by plaintiffs, which include Missouri, Louisiana, and five people who said they experienced “extensive government-induced censorship,” could not be ignored: The president and his administration intimidated social media companies into silencing speech Biden doesn’t like.

Doughty’s ruling, which is being reviewed by the 5th Circuit, bars a number of administration officials, including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, from “meeting with social-media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms.”

This case and the many other examples show that the Biden administration did not merely push the boundaries of free speech; it bulldozed them. Biden officials demanded that social media promote Biden’s messages and remove those who questioned the party narrative — a terrifying echo of Orwell's 1984. This is the playbook of authoritarian regimes, not an appropriate action by the leadership of the land of the free.

Recent releases from Facebook show there was fierce opposition from Facebook employees to the demands from the Biden administration. Biden officials, for example, wanted backend access to “targeting parameters,” but, thankfully, Facebook said no.

The Biden White House then proceeded to blast Facebook employees’ “non-compliance,” making clear that free speech was not even a concern : "My dream for FB to play ball,” one White House official wrote in an email to Facebook. “It’s about will we get out of this f***ing mess, ... We have to explain to President … why there is misinformation on the internet ... We don’t want to be in a position where we take down bad news. But if your goal as a company is to make it more likely that people will get the vaccine. People don’t see this in only one way."

In fact, this harassment even went so far that Facebook feared Biden would shut off Facebook’s ad business in Europe, costing Facebook $1.2 billion a year.

When did we become a country that allows politicians to punish thought crimes? No White House, regardless of political party, should have this power.

No matter how the 5th Circuit rules, our elected representatives in Congress can take a stand. Earlier this year, the first step to rein in this presidential overreach passed the House of Representatives, called the Protecting Free Speech from Government Interference Act . Unfortunately, the bill is now languishing in the Senate, stuck in partisan quicksand.

The legislation lays out ground rules for government employees, simply affirming that they can’t use their positions as government officials for politically motivated purposes to censor speech online. In other words, it protects Americans’ First Amendment rights.

The Orwellian overreach of the Biden administration must be checked. If not, we're looking at a dystopian future where the government can demand the names of citizens who fail to parrot their narrative. Remember Matt Taibi from the "Twitter files"? The IRS conveniently showed up at his door right before he testified to Congress. This is what weaponizing power looks like.

Democrats must seize the moment to show they can rise above partisan politics and stand up for what's right. Our government must ensure that no administration can strong-arm private citizens and businesses, particularly those that provide platforms for speech, into becoming tools of presidential propaganda.

We need to reclaim our democracy from the jaws of authoritarianism. Congress must act swiftly, boldly, and decisively. The Protecting Free Speech from Government Interference Act is a critical step toward achieving this.

Carl Szabo is vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, and professor of internet law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School. NetChoice is a trade association dedicated to protecting free enterprise and free expression online. Its members include Meta and X.