5th Circuit finds Biden White House, CDC and FBI violated First Amendment

By artappraiser on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 9:34pm |

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Biden White House, top government health officials and the FBI likely violated the First Amendment by improperly influencing tech companies’ decisions to remove or suppress posts on covid-19.https://t.co/Y9dUQy01B1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 8, 2023

URL:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/08/5th-circuit-ruling-covid-content-moderation/

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Curious to hear from all the pundits who dismissed reporting on these FBI 1st amendment violations as a "nothing burger."

Hey @Joshtpm let's start with you. pic.twitter.com/T5mkggzBoj
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

Instead of handwaving about the decision based on lazy heuristics like "5th circuit lol," I suggest---you may have heard me say this before!--doing the reading.

The appellate panel applied 1st A tests established by the (liberal) 2nd & 9th circuitshttps://t.co/OqdQYxLy5D?
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

idk what this is about but the 5th circuit sucks ass in general and there's a reason they get the second most cases to SCOTUS after the 9th (who also sucks but for different reasons) lol.
— mugrimm (@ExileGrimm) September 9, 2023

You're talking out of your butt until you've read the ruling. Carefully reasoned, applying tests well established by 2nd and 9th circuit. You can argue with their judgement about the facts in questions but not in some horseshit way like this
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

It seems very possible to me SC will lift the rest of the injunction, finding the continued harm claims overblown. But their judgment on the likelihood of the plaintiff's success at trial (and on appeal) seems exactly right to me,
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

by artappraiser on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 9:41pm

The facts are no different than they were. They don’t support these claims. You really think the most far right appellate court in the country upholding the injunction changes that? Please find some better way to live your life than trolling people about silly things. Thanks.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 9, 2023

The coercion and encouragement standards the panel applied in reaching the finding comes from the 2nd and 9th circuits

Do you usually dismiss all 2nd and 9th jurisprudence?

Look, maybe you should read the decision before continuing the lazy handwaving thing
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

Do you think the 5th circuit applies 2nd and 9th circuit opinions in good faith? How sweet.
— Turgid Jacobian (@TurgidJacobian) September 9, 2023

Turgid, you're just being a nincompoop now. Read the decision and argue with the logic of the finding. There is certainly a case to be made against it but it's not "hahaha 5th circuit I can turn my brain off now"
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

Alice the libs were told this was fake news and not real and that’s shut they’re going to keep believing
— Coddled affluent professional (@feelsdesperate) September 9, 2023

If plaintiffs go on to win at trial and SC upholds *that*, establishing new 1A precedent, I think even Josh will have to withdraw "nothing burger"

he may still object to the decision but CLEARLY it was news!
— Alice (@AliceFromQueens) September 9, 2023

by artappraiser on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 11:01pm

Appeals court says Biden admin likely violated First Amendment but narrows order blocking officials from communicating with social media companies

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/08/politics/biden-administration-social-...

Seems like major PR on a retreat (wait for round 2)

... But the three-judge panel said the preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge Terry Doughty in July, which ordered some Biden administration agencies and top officials not to communicate with social media companies about certain content, was “both vague and broader than necessary to remedy the Plaintiffs’ injuries, as shown at this preliminary juncture.”

The Biden administration had previously argued in the lawsuit brought by Republican attorneys general claiming unconstitutional censorship that channels with social media companies must stay open so that the federal government can help protect the public from threats to election security, Covid-19 misinformation and other dangers.

In briefs submitted earlier this summer, the administration wrote, “There is a categorical, well-settled distinction between persuasion and coercion,” adding that Doughty had “equated legitimate efforts at persuasion with illicit efforts to coerce.”

The 5th Circuit left in place part of the injunction that barred certain Biden administration officials from “threatening, pressuring, or coercing social-media companies in any manner to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce posted content of postings containing protected free speech.”

“But,” the appeals court said, “those terms could also capture otherwise legal speech. So, the injunction’s language must be further tailored to exclusively target illegal conduct and provide the officials with additional guidance or instruction on what behavior is prohibited.”

The appeals court reversed several aspects of Doughty’s sweeping order, concluding that those pieces of it risked blocking the federal government “from engaging in legal conduct.”...

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 11:48pm

This is a great thread on this court ruling.

A thing that was concerning to me, as a longtime progressive Democrat, was there emerged a widespread view on the left that a pandemic meant Constitutional rights didn’t matter anymore.

This ruling is a stinging rebuke of that myth. https://t.co/BmMVF9mHUy
— Zac Bissonnette (@ZacBissonnette) September 9, 2023

by artappraiser on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 10:56pm

Supreme Court finds compromise, moral principle on Alabama voting rights

https://us.cnn.com/2023/09/08/politics/supreme-court-voting-rights-kavan...

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 11:21pm

Appeals court limits Jack Smith's access to PA Scott Perry's phone in Jan 6 case

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/scott-perry-phone/index.html

Still more indication Smith "following the money"

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/special-counsel-election-pro...

by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/08/2023 - 11:34pm

5th Circuit finds Biden White House, CDC and FBI violated First Amendment

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