FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK—Twitter announced late today that it was permanently suspending President Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account. Also today, in a Knight Institute lawsuit challenging President Trump’s practice of blocking critics from his Twitter account, the Supreme Court conferenced to consider the government’s petition to hear the case and is expected to rule on the petition as soon as Monday.

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Executive Director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“We believe that Twitter’s decision to permanently block President Trump from its platform effectively moots the Justice Department’s petition for Supreme Court review in Knight Institute v. Trump. The Supreme Court conferenced about the petition today; it may rule on it as early as Monday. Of course, the Second Circuit’s decision—and the decisions of the multiple other courts that have since adopted the Second Circuit’s reasoning—will continue to shape the way that other public officials use social media.”

The following can be attributed to Katie Fallow, Senior Staff Attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“The core holding of Knight Institute v. Trump is that public officials who use their social media accounts as extensions of their offices cannot constitutionally block people from those accounts on the basis of viewpoint. This holding protects dissent, ensures that public officials aren’t insulated from the views of their constituents, and prevents digital forums that are increasingly important to our democracy from becoming echo chambers.”

For more information, contact: Lorraine Kenny, Communications Director, lorraine.kenny@knightcolumbia.org.