Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

A Judge Just Ruled That Trump Can No Longer Block People On Twitter

A Judge Just Ruled That Trump Can No Longer Block People On Twitter
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's Twitter habit was dealt a blow on Wednesday when a federal judge ruled that blocking people on Twitter violated their First Amendment right to free speech.


U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York sided with the Knight First Amendment Institute, which sued Trump

along with seven Twitter users who complained that their rights had been violated. The court ruled that blocking people on a "public forum" such as Twitter was unconstitutional, because Twitter is an official communication channel from the White House.

"We hold that portions of the @realDonaldTrump account ― the 'interactive space' where Twitter users may directly engage with the content of the President's tweets ― are properly analyzed under the 'public forum' doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court," Buchwald said in her ruling. "The @realDonaldTrump account has been used in the course of the appointment of officers (including cabinet secretaries), the removal of officers, and the conduct of foreign policy."

Buchwald also told the court that instead of blocking, Trump could simply "mute" tweets he didn't want to see, so that he still appeared in those people's Twitter feeds. "Muting equally vindicates the President's right to ignore certain speakers and to selectively amplify the voices of certain others but ― unlike blocking ― does so without restricting the right of the ignored to speak," Buchwald ruled.

Buchwald didn't directly order Trump and White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino to unblock the individuals, however, she did say that doing so would be "minimally" intrusive into White House business. "We must assume that the President and Scavino will remedy the blocking we have held to be unconstitutional," Buchwald said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks were also named as defendants in the suit, however they were excused by the judge.

Some of the seven individuals who sued the president shared their success on Twitter, letting the world know that they "sued the president and won. So much winning"



"Unblock me now Mr. Trump, you are not above the law."



More from People/donald-trump

Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less
superhero comic books
Dev on Unsplash

Fictional Characters That Could Have Become A Villain—But Didn't

A good villain in fiction can often be more interesting than the hero. The angst, the drama, their backstory... there's so much to sink one's teeth into.

But what about the characters that walk the line between good and evil?

Keep ReadingShow less
Harriet Hageman
DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

GOP Rep. Calls Constituents 'Obsessed' With Government During Contentious Town Hall

GOP Representative Harriet Hageman was relentlessly booed by constituents at a town hall after she downplayed their concerns about how President Donald Trump's administration is running the White House.

A viral video showed Wyoming’s at-large congressional Rep. responding at one point to the constant heckling with:

Keep ReadingShow less