Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sued for Blocking Twitter Users After Trump Ruling
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is being sued for blocking Twitter users who were critical of her or her policies following an appeals court decision that ruled President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking his critics. Republican congressional candidate Joseph Saladino and former New York assemblyman Dov Hikind filed lawsuits against the congresswoman on Tuesday, with Saladino writing on Twitter: “Trump is not allowed to block people, will the standards apply equally?” Hikind also cited the decision made by the appeals court, telling Fox News the decision set “a precedent that Ocasio-Cortez must follow.” Both Saladino and Hikind, who say Ocasio-Cortez blocked them on Twitter, filed the suits in federal court, The Washington Post reports.
The appeals decision Tuesday upheld a previous ruling and determined that Trump blocking users he didn’t agree with was discriminatory. Writing in the decision, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker said: “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.”