A federal district court judge ruled on Wednesday that President Trump cannot block people from his Twitter account.
Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on Wednesday that President Trump cannot block people from his Twitter account, reports CBS News. The decision was made in connection with a lawsuit filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and seven other plaintiffs who were reportedly blocked from Trump's Twitter account.
The suit was filed against Trump and some White House staffers. The judge determined that the president's personal Twitter account functions as a public forum. "Blocking of the plaintiffs based on their political speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment," her ruling read, in part. Trump's Twitter account is used to address a variety of national and international matters. For example, on Wednesday morning he tweeted, "Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State."
"They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!" Trump further said. One day prior, he wrote, "China must continue to be strong & tight on the Border of North Korea until a deal is made. The word is that recently the Border has become much more porous and more has been filtering in."