The Biden administration rushed to appeal a federal court’s ruling in Missouri v. Biden that banned White House officials from colluding with California tech giants to censor American speech.
Last week, Chief Judge Terry Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana handed down a preliminary injunction prohibiting the administration from collaborating with Silicon Valley to implement online censorship campaigns. The case was brought by attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana, who alleged last year the federal government violated Americans’ First Amendment liberties when pressuring online platforms to censor posts about Covid-19 and the president, among other things.
Judge Doughty cited “substantial evidence” presented by the plaintiffs of a “far-reaching and widespread censorship campaign” that warranted the injunction.
“If the allegations made by plaintiffs are true,” Doughty wrote, the case “involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.”
The judge barred more than two dozen administrative officials, including the White House press secretary, from communicating with Silicon Valley tech giants to implement a censorship regime. While litigation is underway, the White House may no longer flag posts for censorship or pressure companies to suppress users’ free speech.
The federal government immediately asked the federal judge in the case to stay the ruling and allow the administration to keep censoring speech. The government also pled for a stay in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In their motion to stay in the Western District Court of Louisiana, the Biden administration argued the court’s prohibition on federal censorship presented
