President Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter, federal appeals court rules

President Donald Trump cannot block his critics from the Twitter feed he regularly uses to communicate with the public, a federal appeals court said, in a case with implications for how elected officials nationwide interact with constituents on social media. The decision from the New York-based appeals court upholds an earlier ruling that President Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked individual users critical of the president or his policies. “The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” wrote Judge Barrington D. Parker in the unanimous decision from the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. “In resolving this appeal, we remind the litigants and the public that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to disfavored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less.”