The US Department of Justice on Monday tried to block a court order barring some federal agencies and officials from communicating with them social media companies over moderation of content on their platforms in a decision stemming from a Republican-backed lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration.
The department last week petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stay the order of Louisiana-based US District Judge Terry Doughty.
Federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI Doughty ruled that he must not speak to social media companies “to urge, encourage, coerce, or in any way induce the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” .
The judge’s injunction marked a victory for Republican attorneys general for Louisiana and Missouri, who in a lawsuit accused the government of unlawfully using the COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of misinformation to curb views that disagree with the government agreed. Doughty was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump.
The order related to the expression of opinion, which is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which prohibits the government from “restricting freedom of speech.”
The Justice Department requested a stay pending appeal of the judge’s injunction.
Doughty’s order made specific mention of certain officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Jen Easterly, who heads the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency.
US officials said that by reaching out to social media companies, they aimed to curb misinformation about American elections and beyond COVID Vaccines to stop preventable deaths.
“The injunction threatens to weaken this perfectly lawful conduct and place the judiciary in an untenable position to monitor executive branch communications. It raises serious concerns about the separation of powers,” the Justice Department filing said, referring to the separation of powers in the constitution between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
The judge’s order provided some exceptions to communications between government officials and the companies, including warnings of national security risks and criminal activity.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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