It is no secret that President Donald Trump has actively used Twitter to express his ideas and beliefs, often further contributing to disapproval amongst people of the United States due to his bluntness and distasteful commentary. Many people have utilized the popular app to respond to him, whether in jest or genuine frustration. As his term has gone on and he’s seemingly gotten worse with the things he says, more and more people have voiced their discontent.
Trump, in an effort to limit the visibility of negative comments made against him, recently blocked seven Twitter users. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, with the knowledge that our President’s Twitter serves as a public forum due to policy statements he makes on it, is suing the President for violating the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The amendment states the government cannot exclude people on the basis of their views in a public forum, and the President directly did so. Sean Spicer, White House spokesman reported in June that Trump’s tweets are considered “official statements” and is listed as a defendant in this case along with Trump and White House director of social media, Dan Scavino.
The seven users hope to earn an injunction requiring the president to unblock the users, with one, Joseph Papp, stating that “Everyone being able to see the president’s tweets feels vital to democracy. This may serve as a lesson to the President to lessen the bias in his public statements, if he does not approve of how people respond to him publicly.
