Is the Twitter feed from 45* a public forum with constitutional constraints rather than government speech.
Although politicians’ use of social media can enhance opportunities for important public debate, we believe that one aspect of Trump’s practices runs afoul of the First Amendment. That’s why, today, our Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protectionat Georgetown University Law Center is filing an amicus brief on behalf of leading First Amendment scholars in support of the Knight First Amendment Institute’s lawsuit against the President for engaging in impermissible viewpoint discrimination by selectively blocking critics from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter feed.
Our brief focuses on the ways in which this President has deliberately chosen to use certain features available on Twitter to make the @realDonaldTrump feed a public forum, akin to a public park or an open town hall meeting. This is a key issue in the case, because courts have long held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from engaging in viewpoint discrimination in public fora.
President Trump conducts official government business on this feed, and the White House has acknowledged as much when, for example, referring Congress and the public to tweets on @realDonaldTrump as official statements by the President. So, the feed is much more than the periodic musing of a private individual.
www.justsecurity.org/...
Twitter has changed where political discourse occurs in this country, as has this President’s innovative use of that medium. But the Knight Institute’s lawsuit provides a key opportunity to establish that the use of new technologies has not altered the principle that, where the government creates a space for a vigorous back-and-forth among and with the citizenry, a public forum exists. Maintaining fidelity to the First Amendment’s prohibition on viewpoint discrimination will go a long way toward maintaining robust democratic dialogue in the digital age. We and our signatories believe that a decision in the Knight Institute’s favor can prevent modern venues like Twitter from being exploited by government officials to silence critics and bask in artificial adulation.
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