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Divided court blocks Texas from enforcing social media law
The story is in LBN. Here's an analysis.
EMERGENCY DOCKET
Divided court blocks Texas from enforcing social media law
By Amy Howe
on May 31, 2022 at 7:18 pm
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the technology industry and blocked a controversial Texas law that bars large social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter from removing posts based on the viewpoints they express.
The justices divided 5-4 in an ideologically scrambled vote. Three of the court’s conservatives (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) joined two liberals (Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor) in putting the law on hold while lower courts continue to assess technology companies’ constitutional challenge to the law. The other three conservatives (Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch) and one liberal justice (Elena Kagan) dissented.
The majority did not explain the reasoning behind its brief order. Alito wrote a six-page dissent arguing that the court’s intervention to block the law is premature. Thomas and Gorsuch joined that dissent. Kagan did not join Alito’s opinion, but she separately indicated that she, too, would have allowed the law to take effect. She did not elaborate on her thinking.
The law at the center of the dispute is known as H.B. 20. It prohibits social media platforms with at least 50 million active users from blocking, removing, or “demonetizing” content based on the users’ views. When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law last September, he declared that “conservative viewpoints in Texas cannot be banned on social media.” Tech companies challenged the law, saying it violates their First Amendment right to control what speech appears on their platforms. They also said the law would prevent them from removing hate speech, political disinformation, violent videos, and other harmful content.
{snip}
Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Divided court blocks Texas from enforcing social media law, SCOTUSblog (May. 31, 2022, 7:18 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/divided-court-blocks-texas-from-enforcing-social-media-law/
Divided court blocks Texas from enforcing social media law
By Amy Howe
on May 31, 2022 at 7:18 pm
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the technology industry and blocked a controversial Texas law that bars large social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter from removing posts based on the viewpoints they express.
The justices divided 5-4 in an ideologically scrambled vote. Three of the court’s conservatives (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) joined two liberals (Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor) in putting the law on hold while lower courts continue to assess technology companies’ constitutional challenge to the law. The other three conservatives (Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch) and one liberal justice (Elena Kagan) dissented.
The majority did not explain the reasoning behind its brief order. Alito wrote a six-page dissent arguing that the court’s intervention to block the law is premature. Thomas and Gorsuch joined that dissent. Kagan did not join Alito’s opinion, but she separately indicated that she, too, would have allowed the law to take effect. She did not elaborate on her thinking.
The law at the center of the dispute is known as H.B. 20. It prohibits social media platforms with at least 50 million active users from blocking, removing, or “demonetizing” content based on the users’ views. When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law last September, he declared that “conservative viewpoints in Texas cannot be banned on social media.” Tech companies challenged the law, saying it violates their First Amendment right to control what speech appears on their platforms. They also said the law would prevent them from removing hate speech, political disinformation, violent videos, and other harmful content.
{snip}
Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, Divided court blocks Texas from enforcing social media law, SCOTUSblog (May. 31, 2022, 7:18 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/05/divided-court-blocks-texas-from-enforcing-social-media-law/