A federal judge on Tuesday prohibited numerous federal agencies and high-ranking officials of the Biden administration from working with social media companies by ruling that the government “used its power to silence the opposition” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued the preliminary injunction stating that the administration violated the First Amendment by suppressing the free speech of the plaintiffs of an ongoing lawsuit brought by Republican-led states by assuming a “role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’”
The lawsuit filed in May 2022, according to Leagle, alleged the Biden administration
… colluded with and/or coerced social media companies to suppress disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms by labeling the content “disinformation,” misinformation,” and “malinformation.” Plaintiffs allege the suppression of disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and contents constitutes government action and violates Plaintiffs’ freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The court’s ruling, released on July 4, found that the government had suppressed the “opposition to COVID-19 vaccines; opposition to COVID-19 masking and lockdowns; opposition to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19; opposition to the validity of the 2020 election; opposition to President Biden’s policies; statements that the Hunter Biden laptop story was true; and opposition to policies of the government officials in power.”
Judge Doughty wrote in his 155-page opinion, “It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature. This targeted suppression of conservative ideas is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech. American citizens have the right to engage in free debate about the significant issues affecting the country.”
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry celebrated the court’s ruling, stating in a press release:
Today, we won an historic injunction against the Biden Administration, preventing it from censoring the core political speech of ordinary Americans on social media…. The evidence in our case is shocking and offensive with senior federal officials deciding that they could dictate what Americans can and cannot say on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms about COVID-19, elections, criticism of the government, and more.
The ruling listed several government agencies, such as the Justice Department and FBI, along with their secretaries, directors, administrators, and employees, that are prohibited by the injunction from discussions with social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”
In addition, the order mentions by name numerous members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and others.
AP news reported:
The Justice Department is reviewing the injunction “and will evaluate its options in this case,” said a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“This administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections,” the official said. “Our consistent view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present.”
Regardless of what the Biden administration claims, Judge Doughty found that the “evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario,” as the government was acting out in real life George Orwell’s 1984 “Ministry of Truth.”
The judge began his conclusion by citing a quote from President Harry S. Truman:
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one place to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.
At the very least, this ruling has exposed the truth. However, the fight to end unconstitutional government censorship is far from over, as the injunction will certainly be appealed.
