CA-5’s Rebuke to Biden-Tech Censorship

The 5th Circuit issued a landmark rebuke on collusion against free speech during the pandemic between Uncle Joe & Big Tech, although you’d hardly know it from much of the MSM that shamefully ignored it. Yet, did it also shamefully let Dr. Fauci & NIH off the hook?

As the WSJ’s editors noted, “Missouri & Louisiana – joined by individuals whose posts opposing government views on Covid were censored – sued various federal officials for violating their First Amendment rights. Federal Judge Terry Doughty ruled against the government on nearly all points. The 3-judge Fifth Circuit panel largely upheld his findings of fact & law …” The appellate court’s 74-page opinion methodically detailed how tech employees “attended regular meetings” with government officials & “seemingly steeped-up their efforts” to remove content to appease them. But, it wasn’t all that voluntary as Joe’s DOJ attorneys insisted. The Fifth Circuit countered that the bureaucrats crossed the First Amendment line by “coercing platforms with threats of antitrust action & legal liability for user content” under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

What’s also arguably indecent, however, is that the court’s “nuanced opinion dismisses complaints against Anthony Fauci & other NIH officials because they had merely ‘promoted the government’s scientific & policy views & attempted to discredit opposing ones – quintessential examples of government speech that do not run afoul of the 1st Amendment.’” Yet, BUT FOR that supposed “expert” policy-making that gave their over-stepper colleagues political if not legal cover, those 1st Amendment rights of others could not have been carried out. The WSJ dares Joe’s DOJ to appeal to the Supreme Court, although “it may prefer to quit while it’s behind.” If so, at least we have a landmark precedent “that protects free speech from the government’s current method of laundering its censorship through private platforms.”

Davd Soul