Responding to a petition on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas laid out a comprehensive constitutional framework for regulating Twitter moderation, signaling that Thomas and other conservatives are eager to take action against social media platforms.
Thomas was writing in response to a case brought in 2017 by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, arguing that President Trump was violating the First Amendment by blocking critics on Twitter. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the institute in 2019 and Biden’s White House has declined to contest that ruling, making it pointless to continue the case. But since an appeal was filed while Trump was still president, the court is formally required to respond.
