Washington – The Justice Department on Thursday asked a federal court to stay its order block Biden administration officials to communicate with the social media companies while he appeals the decision.
In a filing supporting his stay request, federal prosecutors said the preliminary injunction issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty sweeps too broadly and is unclear as to what conduct it authorizes. and who it covers.
The order, they said, “can be interpreted as preventing the government from engaging in a wide range of lawful and responsible behavior – including speaking out on matters of public interest and working with social media companies on initiatives to prevent serious harm to the American people and our democratic processes.
The Justice Department has warned that the injunction, which names entire agencies like the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, is causing ‘significant confusion’ over who is temporarily barred from working with the companies of social media.
“The potential breadth of entities and employees covered by the injunction, combined with the substantial reach of the injunction, will chill a wide range of lawful government conduct related to [the administration’s] law enforcement responsibilities, obligations to protect national security and the prerogative to speak out on matters of public interest,” prosecutors said.
The preliminary injunction granted by Doughty, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, blocks a number of senior Biden administration officials – including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Health Secretary and to Social Services Xavier Becerra, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the White House press secretary. Karine Jean-Pierre – to engage in a range of communications with social media companies.
Administration officials are temporarily prohibited from working with companies in a manner that “urges, encourages, pressures or induces in any way to remove, remove, remove or curtail content containing protected free speech “.
The order lists several exclusions, including allowing the Biden administration to notify social media companies of posts involving criminal activity, threats to national security and public safety, and unlawful efforts to suppress voting or foreign attempts to influence the elections.
The Justice Department quickly informed the court that it intended to appeal Doughty’s decision.
The injunction stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri in 2022 that alleged senior government officials colluded with social media companies to remove views and content on social media platforms, in violation of the First Amendment.
Their lawsuit accused platforms like Twitter and Facebook of censoring a New York Post story about the contents of a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, posts about the origins of COVID-19 and various measures. mitigation measures implemented during the pandemic and a speech on the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
The Biden administration, however, said it often speaks publicly and privately with social media companies to promote its public health and safety message during the COVID-19 pandemic, identify potential threats to the election integrity and report the dissemination of false information on the platforms.
Additionally, much of the alleged conduct occurred during the Trump administration, the Justice Department wrote in a May filing.
“The Constitution preserves the government’s right to encourage specific private behavior, such as joining a war effort, stopping the sale of cigarettes to children, and – in this case – reducing the spread of misinformation that compromises election security. or the nation’s efforts to protect the public from the spread of a deadly disease,” Justice Department attorneys told the court. “A social media company’s independent decision to follow government requests does not turn the company’s conduct into government action.”
But in an opinion granting the states’ injunction request, Doughty said they were likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that the Biden administration’s efforts violated the First Amendment.
“Using the 2016 election and the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has apparently embarked on a massive effort to crack down on disadvantaged conservative speech,” he wrote.
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