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Live updates: Supreme Court hears arguments for First Amendment cases
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A majority of the Supreme Court signaled Monday that it has serious reservations with an argument raised by two conservative states that the federal government crossed a First Amendment line by attempting to persuade social media sites to remove content it deemed as misinformation.
Several conservative justices raised a series of hypothetical questions suggesting they are worried about the potential spillover from embracing the states’ legal test. They wondered: Could the FBI not ask Facebook to take down a post urging harm against public officials? Could the White House not ask X, formerly known as Twitter, to remove a post that was inaccurate or put American troops in harm’s way?
“What do you do with the fact that the platforms say ‘no’ all the time to the government?” asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, suggesting that the decision to take down a post is ultimately made by the platforms, not the government.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett also appeared to be poking holes in the argument raised by the states. Led by Justice Samuel Alito, several other conservatives also appeared skeptical of the Biden administration’s position.
In one exchange, Alito laid out a case for how unusual it was that federal officials were repeatedly pressuring the social media sites to take down content. And he wondered what would happen if the government made similar request of traditional media.
Alito described what the government did as a “constant pestering of Facebook.”
“I cannot imagine federal officials taking that approach to the print media,” he said.
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