A technical yet notable victory for the Biden administration…
In a significant decision, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the White House and federal agencies, including the FBI, can urge social media platforms to remove content considered misinformation by the government.
Wednesday’s ruling marks a technical yet notable victory for the Biden administration in an election year.
As CNN reports:
Of immediate significance, the decision means that the Department of Homeland Security may continue to flag posts to social media companies such as Facebook and X that it believes may be the work of foreign agents seeking to disrupt this year’s presidential race.
Rather than delving into the weighty First Amendment questions raised by the case, the court ruled that the state and social media users who challenged the Biden administration did not have standing to sue.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority that included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.
“To establish standing, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a substantial risk that, in the near future, they will suffer an injury that is traceable to a government defendant and redressable by the injunction they seek,” Barrett wrote. “Because no plaintiff has carried that burden, none has standing to seek a preliminary injunction.”
Wednesday’s ruling ends the Republican-led challenge to the Biden administration’s work with social media companies to take down content the government views as misinformation.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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