Trump, Twitter and the First Amendment

Can President Trump block citizens from following his own Twitter feed?

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University has filed suit on behalf of several Twitter users who were denied the ability to follow the President’s Twitter feed after they made comments critical of him. The Institute claims that the ban is a violation of a First Amendment right to free speech and free assembly, and that a public official’s social media page is a designated public forum.

The Justice Department, defending President Trump, says the courts are powerless to tell President Trump how he can manage his private Twitter handle and the Institute’s requests would “send the First Amendment deep into uncharted waters.”

Joining our We The People podcast to discuss these arguments are Alex Abdo, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute and Eugene Volokh, the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law.

CREDITS

Today’s show was engineered by Jason Gregory and produced by Ugonna Eze and Lana Ulrich. Research was provided by Lana and Tom Donnelly.

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