In late May, District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the Southern District of New York issued her decision in Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University v. Trump, No. 17 Civ. 5205 (NRB) (S.D.N.Y. May 23, 2018), granting summary judgment to the plaintiffs and holding that President Donald Trump and Daniel Scavino, the White House social media director, had violated the First Amendment by blocking various individuals’ access to the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account after the individuals criticized the president. The court’s narrowly focused, and fascinating, decision applies longstanding First Amendment doctrine to the distinctly 21st century medium of Twitter. Its analysis applies well-established principles of standing and free speech to the communication process that occurs through Twitter’s underlying technical functionality. As such, it has important implications not just for the parties to the action, but for other government officials with a presence on Twitter or other social media sites as well as for other members of the public.

The Case

The parties provided a detailed stipulation of facts to allow the court to focus on the legal issues underlying their cross-motions for summary judgment without any distracting factual dispute. As the court explained, Donald Trump established the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account in March 2009. Before his inauguration, he used this account to tweet about a variety of topics, including politics and popular culture. The Twitter page associated with the account presently is registered to Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, Washington, D.C. Since his inauguration in January 2017, Trump has used the @realDonaldTrump account for, among other things, announcing his policies and official decisions and for matters unrelated to official government business. Scavino provides assistance regarding the content and administration of the account, including the ability to post tweets ostensibly in the president’s name and to control access to the account.