NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has decided to examine a judicially imposed prohibition on specific interactions between the Biden administration and major technology companies, following earlier rulings where lower courts claimed that government officials collaborated with these companies to suppress free speech, reported Fox news.
This decision is a result of a legal action initiated by state attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana.
They alleged that senior government officials engaged with major social media firms, ostensibly to combat misinformation, but in reality, this cooperation resulted in the suppression of discussions on various topics, such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, the origins of COVID-19, and the effectiveness of face masks.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey says the high court’s review could signal the justices “acknowledge that these are the worst First Amendment violations in this nation’s history and that this issue has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed by the highest court in the land.”
The Republican Attorney General’s objective is to establish an enduring barrier between technology companies and the government in order to safeguard our freedom of speech. He notes that even after examining 20,000 documents and conducting numerous depositions, the attorneys general have just begun to uncover what he refers to as an extensive censorship operation.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration earlier this year. This action came after the court determined that the government had a high probability of infringing upon the Free Speech Clause by pressuring social media platforms to restrict content.
The Republican Attorney General (AG) states that his objective is to establish a “lasting division between technology and government in order to safeguard our freedom of speech.” He emphasizes that, despite examining 20,000 documents and conducting numerous depositions, the attorneys general have only made preliminary efforts to uncover what he describes as an extensive censorship operation.
This year, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration after determining that the government was likely infringing upon the Free Speech Clause by pressuring social media platforms to restrict content.
In recent weeks, the court determined that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under the Department of Homeland Security had been actively encouraging social media platforms to adopt stricter content censorship policies, particularly related to election-related speech.
This injunction significantly restricts communication between the federal government and major tech companies. The Justice Department has appealed the injunction to the Supreme Court, contending that the government faces “irreparable harm” because the order could hinder federal efforts to collaborate with social media companies on initiatives aimed at safeguarding the American people and democratic processes from serious harm.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to consider arguments from both sides regarding whether the injunction should remain in effect while the lower courts adjudicate the case on its merits. A majority of the justices indicated that the injunction should be temporarily lifted until they can fully review the case.
However, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch expressed the view that the injunction should have been maintained. This stance is seen as an indication by Bailey that the court recognizes the significant and serious nature of the issues presented in this case.
“We feel strongly that the injunction needs to go into a place I’ve advocated, since the onset of this case, that we need to build a wall of separation between tech and state, and a nationwide preliminary injunction is the first brick in that wall,” Bailey said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Bailey also contends that the DOJ’s argument that an injunction would have a “chilling effect” is “dripping with irony.”
