Louisiana and Missouri officials praised a federal judge’s temporary injunction issued on Independence Day that blocks members of the Biden administration from meeting with big tech companies during an ongoing censorship trial.
As Breitbart News reported:
The judge, an appointee of President Donald Trump, is presiding over a case brought by Missouri and Louisiana challenging federal efforts to block alleged misinformation about the coronavirus and elections on social media.
Critics allege that the federal government censored free speech, using private companies to carry out actions that it cannot take under the First Amendment. In so doing, critics say, the government stifled scientific debate, and weaponized social media platforms to help Democrats and hurt Republicans in recent elections.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) praised the “historic ruling” in a statement after the judge’s order was issued.
Landry said:
Today, we won an historic injunction against the Biden Administration, preventing it from censoring the core political speech of ordinary Americans on social media. The evidence in our case is shocking and offensive with senior federal officials deciding that they could dictate what Americans can and cannot say on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms about COVID-19, elections, criticism of the government, and more. Today’s historic ruling is a big step in the continued fight to prohibit our government from unconstitutional censorship. We look forward to continuing to litigate the case and will vigorously defend the injunction on appeal.
Judge Terry A. Doughty’s order applies to various Biden administration agencies, including, but not limited to, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Department of Justice.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Missouri’s former attorney general, called the order a “big win” in the fight to dismantle the Biden administration’s “vast censorship enterprise.”
“A Federal Judge in Missouri v. Biden just granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the FBI, DOJ, DHS & other agencies from working with Big Tech to censor on social media,” Schmitt tweeted. “Big win for the First Amendment on this Independence Day. I’m proud to have led the fight.”
“White House officials, CDC & others are stopped cold. We need to continue the fight to take down the Vast Censorship Enterprise. Their view of ‘misinformation’ isn’t an excuse to censor. This is the most important free speech case in a generation,” Schmitt added. “Freedom is on the march.”
In the order, Judge Doughty said the Biden administration has “blatantly ignored the First Amendment’s right to free speech,” and added they have “almost exclusively targeted conservative speech.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) called for a “wall of separation between tech and state to preserve our First Amendment right to free, fair, and open debate,” in a statement after the judge’s order.
“We filed this landmark lawsuit against dozens of officials in the federal government to stop the biggest violation of the First Amendment in our nation’s history, and today’s court order is a huge win for the right to freely speak without government censorship,” Bailey said.
“We must build a wall of separation between tech and state to preserve our First Amendment right to free, fair, and open debate,” the Missouri attorney general added. “Missouri will continue to lead the way in the fight to defend our most fundamental freedoms.”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
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