Throughout Joe Biden’s time in office, his administration has worked behind the scenes to tamp down on American free speech. His back-door communications with tech companies and abuse of government agencies have forced many conservatives’ voices to be limited or outright shut down.
This has created one of the biggest fights against mass censorship conducted by the U.S. government. Biden has openly called for the media companies to promote and protect his political initiatives while undermining the voices of his opposition.
The fight is headed to a new level following a ruling by a federal judge who dropped the gavel against the president and his allies. The Biden administration must now defend its actions in a court of law.
From The Daily Wire:
In a court order Tuesday, a U.S. District judge rejected the Biden State Department’s attempts to dismiss a censorship lawsuit brought by The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and the State of Texas.The Daily Wire lawsuit, filed jointly by the New Civil Liberties Alliance with The Federalist and Texas in December of 2023 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that the U.S. State Department is engaging with and promoting censorship technology designed to bankrupt domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions.
The lawsuit is attempting to hold to account the likes of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and five other Biden officials. The lawsuit wants the court to declare the State Department’s attempt to interfere with domestic speech illegal and to permanently bar it from developing, promoting, or encouraging others to use technology to de-amplify, shadow ban, or restrict “the lawful speech of the American press and Americans.”
The complaint didn’t hold back much as it stated the State Department’s scheme is “one of the most audacious, manipulative, secretive, and gravest abuses of power and infringements of First Amendment rights by the federal government in American history.”
U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle denied the State Department motions to quash the lawsuit and ruled the plaintiffs “have satisfied their burden to demonstrate standing at this stage in the case.” He also denied the government’s request to transfer the venue out of Texas.
The judge hammered Biden’s administration by quoting directly from the First Amendment and the fact that the government shall make no law that abridges the freedom of speech or the press. “This provision enshrines ‘[o]ur profound national commitment to the free exchange of ideas,” the order read.
The lawsuit contends that there have been layers upon layers of Biden administration operations that used federal agencies and funding to develop and promote censorship against opposition speech and media. This was allegedly accomplished by working indirectly through government agencies and private companies that could limit or harm media outlets.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s Mark Chenoweth, who is representing the outlets, said “the federal government cannot do indirectly what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly.”
The Daily Wire said in a statement that its previous suit against the Biden administration over the unconstitutional vaccine mandate was a success and the media company plans to win again to preserve the “constitutional guarantee of a free press that all Americans deserve.”
Key Takeaways:
- The Biden administration was hammered by a Texas judge in a free speech lawsuit.
- The Daily Wire sued the government to protect First Amendment rights of Americans.
- The media outlet alleged the government used private companies to avoid the law.
Source: The Daily Wire
