Recently, Robert Fk. Kennedy Jr. secured a massive victory in his lawsuit against the Biden administration for colluding with media companies in an effort to censor him and other public figures. According to reports, RFK JR. won a preliminary injunction against the White House and several federal agencies on allegations they attempted to silence his statements regarding vaccines on social media.
Judge Terry A. Doughty of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana stated earlier this week that an injunction is warranted in the case as Kennedy has demonstrated the potential to succeed on the merits of his claims.
According to Doughty, the White House defendants, the Surgeon General defendants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defendants, the Federal Bureau of Investigation defendants, and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency defendants likely violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
RJK Jr.’s lawsuit claims that starting in 2020, the federal government initiated a campaign to compel social media giants such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (now known as X after Elon Musk’s takeover) to censor Kennedy’s freedom of speech protected under the constitution.
Judge Doughty asserted that Kennedy sufficiently demonstrated that the defendants “jointly participated in the actions of the social media” platforms by “‘insinuating themselves into the social-media companies’ private affairs and blurring the line between public and private action.”
Judge Doughty noted that Kennedy brought forth substantial evidence that the Biden administration had coerced the social media platforms into suppressing free speech related to politically charged topics such as the pandemic, elections, the economy, climate change, and more.
Furthermore, the injunction prohibits the defendants from taking “actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech.”
“It is certainly likely that Defendants could use their power over millions of people to suppress alternative views or moderate content that they do not agree with in the upcoming 2024 national election,” the judge continued.
According to reports, the injunction is stayed until ten days after the Supreme Court rules on Missouri v Biden. However, it prevents the White House and other agencies from coercing social media companies to “remove, delete, suppress, or reduce… content containing protected free speech.”
Recently, the Biden administration has endured several prominent legal setbacks. The American Petroleum Institute (API) filed a petition this week claiming that the Department of Interior’s plan to restrict future fossil fuels threatens energy security in the United States.
“Demand for affordable, reliable energy is only growing, yet this administration has used every tool at its disposal to restrict access to vast energy resources in federal waters. In issuing a five-year program with the fewest lease sales in history, the administration is limiting access in a region responsible for generating among the lowest carbon-intensive barrels in the world, putting American consumers at greater risk of relying on foreign sources for our future energy needs,” API Senior Vice President and General Counsel Ryan Meyers said.
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