A lower court position holding that formal US President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked followers from his Twitter account has been wiped away by the US Supreme Court.
The Supreme court in its ruling on Monday, April 5 dismissed the case because Trump is not in office so there is no longer a live case or any controversy.
Recall that Ex-US President, Trump created his Twitter account in 2009, and in May and June of 2017, while serving as President of the US he blocked seven individuals who had expressed displeasure with him.
Lawyers from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued on behalf of the seven individuals, arguing Trump’s action violated their First Amendment rights.
In court papers, they said Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, “functions as an official source of news and information about the government, and as a forum for speech by, to, and about the President.”
A district court ruled that the then-President’s action of blocking followers violated the individuals’ First Amendment rights because it excluded them from a public forum based on their viewpoints — a decision an appeals court later affirmed.
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