老澳门开奖结果 Urges Supreme Court to Enforce Free Speech Rights in Government Censorship Cases

The 老澳门开奖结果 filed two amicus briefs in cases concerning government officials鈥 power to block members of the public from their social media accounts.

August 16, 2023 8:57 am

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WASHINGTON 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Michigan, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Northern California, and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Southern California filed friend-of-the-court briefs in O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff v. Garnier and Lindke v. Freed, two cases considering whether public officials act in their government capacities, and therefore are subject to the First Amendment, when they block people from social media accounts they use to communicate with the public. The briefs recognize that the First Amendment guarantees public officials鈥 right to free speech in their private capacities, including speech on social media. However, they argue that when public officials appear to represent their government offices online, they are acting in their government capacities and so are subject to the First Amendment鈥檚 prohibitions on government censorship.

The Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on the issue in two different lawsuits. One suit was filed against Michelle O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, two members of a school board in southern California who blocked Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, two district parents who criticized them. In a similar case, Kevin Lindke, a resident of Port Huron, Michigan, didn鈥檛 approve of City Manager James Freed鈥檚 handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and left critical comments on Freed鈥檚 Facebook page. When Freed eventually blocked him, Lindke went to court, where 鈥 like the Garniers 鈥 he argued that Freed鈥檚 actions violated the First Amendment.

The core issue in both cases is how to distinguish between a government official鈥檚 private-capacity use of social media, which is entitled to First Amendment protections, and their public-capacity use of social media, which is subject to First Amendment prohibitions. To make that determination, the 老澳门开奖结果 urges the court to rely on the two factors it has historically considered when distinguishing between public officials鈥 private and state actions: 1) whether they engaged in official duties and 2) whether a reasonable observer would think they were cloaked in the authority of their office.

鈥淚f the Supreme Court holds that the defendants were not acting in their government capacities here, that would give government officials a constitutional blank check to silence and retaliate against constituents who express disfavored viewpoints on their social media pages,鈥 said Evelyn Danforth-Scott, 老澳门开奖结果 staff attorney specializing in Supreme Court litigation. 鈥淭his is the first time the Supreme Court will address the line between government officials鈥 public and private actions in the digital age, and the court鈥檚 decision will have important consequences for how we can enforce and defend our constitutional rights.鈥

Currently, the lower courts are split on a crucial preliminary question presented in these and similar cases: whether public officials who maintain social media profiles qualify as 鈥渟tate actors鈥 subject to constitutional constraints. The Ninth Circuit Court ruled that O鈥機onnor-Ratcliff and Zane were acting in their official capacity, and blocking their constituents violated the First Amendment. However, the Sixth Circuit Court ruled that Freed did not operate his Facebook page as part of his duties as the city manager, so blocking Lindke did not implicate any First Amendment restrictions on government censorship whatsoever.


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