Two landmark lawsuits brought against the Biden administration alleging that it leaned on and strong-armed social media companies to censor free speech were consolidated in the United States District Court for the Western District Court of Louisiana on July 26.
Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. is the plaintiff in one of the actions, Kennedy v. Biden. The states of Louisiana and Missouri are the plaintiffs in the other suit, Missouri v. Biden.
Both suits allege that the White House and federal agencies worked together and bullied the powerhouse social media companies, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube, to suppress and block information of which the government disapproved.
The complaints claim that major and fundamental components of the information that was repressed involved statistics, opinion, and commentary on the COVID-19 virus and the efficacy of vaccines for the virus, and the side effects the vaccines can cause, and also data pertaining to climate change.
“Huge victory as Kennedy v. Biden is consolidated with Missouri v. Biden,” Mr. Kennedy wrote on Twitter. “My case is a class action suit on behalf of individuals censored by the White House, who were harmed and whose rights were infringed by not hearing our messages.
“As Frederick Douglass pointed out, every act of censorship has two classes of victims; the speakers and the listeners!”
Suing the Biden Administration Over Free Speech and Censorship
Mr. Kennedy, whose poll numbers have risen, has been an outspoken critic of and has prominently countered and questioned the narrative on COVID-19 that the Biden administration and Dr. Anthony Fauci have presented.Mr. Kennedy, a nonprofit group he founded, and a private citizen in Louisiana are the plaintiffs in the case. The complaint, filed in the Western District Court, contends that President Biden and others in his administration violated the First Amendment by coercing and pressuring social media companies to block information of which they disapproved.
A defendant singled out in the suit was White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy. The suit alleged that Ms. McCarthy called on and “demanded” social-media platforms stifle and suppress speech that “contradicts federal officials’ preferred narratives on climate change.”
Missouri v. Biden was filed in the U.S. Western District Court of Louisiana by the states of Louisiana and Missouri. Playing the lead role in filing the suit were two Republican attorney generals: Missouri’s Eric Schmitt and Louisiana’s Jeff Landry.
Mr. Schmitt has been a thorn in the side of the White House as he has filed several lawsuits against the administration.
On July 4, Judge Terry Doughty handed the plaintiffs in the case at least a temporary victory when he issued an injunction prohibiting the Biden administration and several government agencies from contacting social media companies to censor legal speech.
Judge Terry A. Doughty speaks before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in 2017. Sen. Bill Cassidy/YouTube/Screenshot
In his ruling, Judge Doughty cited “substantial evidence” of a far-reaching censorship campaign. He wrote that the “evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’ ”
A White House official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity commented on the injunction.
“This administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections,” said the official. “Our consistent view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present.”
The day after Judge Doughy issued the injunction, Mr. Kennedy testified, before a House subcommittee, on what he described as improper collusion between the government and social media companies.
“These hearings are taking place in the aftermath of the landmark July 4 ruling by District Court Judge Terry Doughty in the case Missouri v. Biden, who issued a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government to stop trying to pressure, induce, or collude in social media companies’ censorship of constitutionally protected speech,” said Mr. Kennedy.
“This Injunction is based on a mountain of evidence that a veritable army of federal agents colluded with social media companies to censor information, viewpoints, and speakers the government didn’t want people to hear. The Court found that ‘the ‘misinformation’ to be suppressed was whatever the government deemed misinformation.”
Subsequent to Mr. Kennedy’s testimony, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals acted on the government’s appeal of Judge Doughty’s July 4 decision and, on July 14, granted a stay of the injunction.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
