President Donald Trump. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Trump is appealing a judge’s ruling that said he violated some of his critics’ First Amendment rights when he blocked them on Twitter.
The details: The appeal notice came even though the White House has unblocked the accounts of seven users who sued the president. The judge had stopped short of ordering the White House to unblock the users. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which is representing the plaintiffs, said it looks "forward to defending the ruling in the Second Circuit” Court of Appeals in New York.
What they're saying: The case centers on the argument that social media platforms used by government officials to interact with the public are subject to the First Amendment.
- The plaintiffs say Trump should not selectively block anyone from participating in the public social forum based on their views.
- But the Trump administration argued that the president should be able to block anyone whose speech he doesn’t want to listen to.