Supreme Court extends freeze on ruling against Biden administration communications with Big Tech
Kaelan Deese Christopher Hutton
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The Supreme Court on Friday extended a hold on a lower court ruling limiting Biden administration officials from communicating with Big Tech companies about content moderation. The pause, which was set to expire Friday, will now go until Wednesday, Sept. 27, to allow the justices time to consider how to handle the high-profile free speech case.
The dispute arose from the federal government’s efforts to fight the spread of misinformation on social media by flagging content for removal by social media platforms.
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On July 4, Louisiana-based U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued an order that limited the federal government’s communications with social media companies about virtually all content. A subsequent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling by a three-judge panel on Sept. 11 agreed with the lower court decision, though it narrowed the number of agencies to which Doughty’s order applied.
The Biden administration appealed the ruling to the high court last Thursday, asking the justices to put Doughty’s order, as well as the 5th Circuit’s modified ruling, on hold until it can file a petition for review.
Department of Justice Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that “unprecedented limits on the ability of the President’s closest aides to use the bully pulpit to address matters of public concern, on the FBI’s ability to address threats to the Nation’s security, and on the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] ability to relay public-health information at platforms’ request.”
Shortly following the government’s request, Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency requests arising from the 5th Circuit, put the lower court’s order on hold until the end of the day on Friday, giving the justices time to rule on the request and allowing plaintiffs time to file a response.
Last year, Republican attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana filed the suit, along with four individual plaintiffs who allege their social media posts about topics such as the COVID-19 lab leak theory and vaccine side effects were removed or suppressed.
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The government “coerced, threatened, and pressured social-media platforms to censor” them, in violation of the First Amendment, according to the groups.
This is a developing story and will be updated.