Donald Trump cannot block critical Twitter users, court rules

[Belsnickel]

(05-24-2018, 03:02 PM)PhilHos Wrote: So, in the courts opinion, a government official is REQUIRED to hear any and all expressions made to them? That's ludicrous. So, if someone comes running up to a senator, shouting how much said senator sucks, the senator is required to stand there and listen?

C'mon, Bels. You gotta see that this is a ridiculous ruling.

(05-24-2018, 03:04 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Is the judge ruling that Trump has to actually READ all the comments posted? 'Cause if not, wouldn't he already be violating the supposed free expression TO the government? Better rule that not only can he NOT block people, he has to read ALL the comments.

So you kind of pointed out the difference from your example in the first post with your second post. Walking away or ignoring someone would be like not reading the tweets. Blocking them is like not making yourself available for your constituents at all. To go in the direction of phone calls: ignoring the tweets would be like tossing out any phone messages from your voicemail or handed to you by staff and not responding; blocking someone on Twitter would be like not having a listed phone number and/or not having someone to answer the phone or a way to take messages.

The sticking point is the access. The public has a right to access to their elected officials (within reason), both to hear and be heard. This is a part of how the First is interpreted. Blocking someone on Twitter cuts off that access in a way that the courts, with this ruling, do not see as reasonable.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous we have to have this go through the courts, but I actually don't disagree with the ruling. From an administration and policy point of view, access through social media is an important tool for the public sector to engage the citizenry. I don't see a reasonable reason to restrict public access to state social media presences and I think that this is going to be the next frontier in free speech adjudication.