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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFederal Judge Demands Trump Clarify the Status of His Personal Twitter Account
by Colin Kalmbacher | 7:18 pm, March 13th, 2018
A federal judge on Tuesday demanded the White House issue a clarification as to whether President Donald Trumps personal Twitter account is subject to the First Amendment. The order issued by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald reads, in part:
At oral argument, the government stated that the blocking of Twitter users on the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts would [sic] likely would run afoul of the First Amendment but not because of public forum doctrine and that it is probably true that government cannot block individuals purely on the basis of viewpoint from a government account like the @POTUS account.
Buchwald noted that the import of the White Houses position on the official accounts is that the First Amendment would prohibit the government from blocking Twitter users responding to those accounts. Buchwald then notes, We neglected, however, to address the impact of this position on whether such blocking may occur on the @RealDonaldTrump account.
Buchwalds order continues, If the government continues to take the position that users may not be blocked from the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts, it should explain all of the ways in which the First Amendment analysis differs for those two accounts on the one hand and the @RealDonaldTrump account on the other.
The underlying case stems from a lawsuit filed by civil liberties attorneys on behalf of multiple Twitter users blocked by President Trump on Twitter. The plaintiffs allege that such blocks implicate the First Amendments public forum doctrine and are therefore unconstitutional.
more
https://lawandcrime.com/first-amendment/federal-judge-demands-trump-clarify-the-status-of-his-personal-twitter-account/
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Federal Judge Demands Trump Clarify the Status of His Personal Twitter Account (Original Post)
DonViejo
Mar 2018
OP
Gothmog
(143,998 posts)1. If trump's twitter account is an official govt. communication, then he cannot block followers
dragonlady
(3,577 posts)2. Yes, that is the issue
The government apparently is saying the @RealDonaldTrump account is his personal account as a private citizen. So why do almost all of the tweets there pertain to government and politics? The judge will have to decide whether it is a sham to call it personal and therefore it must respect First Amendment rights.
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)3. Either Tillerson is still Secretary of State
Or it is a government account.
You can't really use it to fire the Secretary of State and then claim you were using it as private citizen Trump.