An Orwellian-sounding federal court in Louisiana concluded on Tuesday that the Joe Biden administration’s censorship of adverse social media commentary during the coronavirus pandemic likely violated the First Amendment.
Additionally, US District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued a broad preliminary injunction prohibiting numerous federal officials and organizations, including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Press Secretary for the White House Karine Jean-Pierre.
And all employees of the Justice Department and FBI, from contacting social media companies in order to discourage or remove First Amendment-protected speech.
The decision and directive from Doughty, a former president Donald Trump appointee, mark the most recent developments in a long-running lawsuit brought by Republican-led states that claim the federal government pressured social media companies to take down posts that contained alleged false information about the coronavirus, election security, and other issues.
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Judge Accuses US Government Of Orwellian Role During Pandemic
Doughty wrote in his 155-page opinion that the United States Government appears to have taken on a role similar to an Orwellian Ministry of Truth during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that was probably best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty.
The opinion was released as most federal courts were closed for the Fourth of July holiday.
The Joe Biden administration has the right to appeal Doughty’s decision to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which has its headquarters in New Orleans, even though it seems to go into effect right away.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a White House official.
The judge’s ruling lists a wide range of issues that he claims were all suppressed on social media at the behest of administration officials, including criticism of Covid vaccines, masking, lockdowns, and the lab-leak theory; denial of the 2020 election’s validity; criticism of President Joe Biden and other officials’ policies; and claims that the story surrounding a laptop owned by Biden’s son Hunter Biden was true.
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Source: msn.com