Plaintiff Knight Institute’s summary of issues in lawsuit:

The Knight First Amendment Institute filed suit in the Southern District of New York contending that President Trump and his communications team violated the First Amendment by blocking seven people from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account because they criticized the president or his policies.

The suit argues that the @realDonaldTrump account is a “public forum” under the First Amendment, meaning that the government cannot exclude people from it simply because of their views. It also argues that the White House is violating the seven individual plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to petition their government for redress of grievances. Finally, the lawsuit argues that by altering the @realDonaldTrump public forum, it is violating the rights of people who have not been blocked — such as the Knight Institute, another plaintiff in the case — who must now participate in a forum that has been purged of many critical voices. 

At summary judgment, Judge Buchwald ruled that the president violated the First Amendment by blocking access to the @realdonaldtrump Twitter to several of plaintiffs, based on their  political views.

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