Politics

DOJ makes bid to get appeals court to reconsider Twitter-blocking ruling

President Trump won’t give up his Twitter-blocking power without a fight.

The Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling, made last month, that Trump’s use of the platform’s blocking feature to screen out users who annoyed him was “unconstitutional viewpoint demonstration” under the First Amendment.

That ruling is flawed, the DOJ argued Friday, because Trump’s Twitter account is his personal property, not owned by the government.

“An official’s decision to exclude someone from his personal residence would not exercise the authority of the government, even if he were giving official statements on that property on that day,” the DOJ reasoned, according to The Hill. “And what is true for real property is likewise true for a social media account.”

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet responded to the appeal, CNN reported.