A federal appeals court ruled unanimously Tuesday that it's unconstitutional for Donald Trump to block Twitter users whom he doesn't like from following him, a decision that might have bearing on First Amendment rights in the era of social media, according to the New York Times.
A three-judge panel in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling from last year that Trump cannot randomly block people for any reason because he uses his Twitter account to conduct official business. The judges found that Trump excluding people from an “otherwise open online dialogue” because he disagrees with them violates their First Amendment rights.
“In resolving this appeal, we remind the litigants and the public that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to disfavored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less,” Judge Barrington Parker wrote for the panel.
Trump will surely be mystified by the notion that anyone besides him should be allowed to speak.