If you were wondering how the six conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court would be using their majority, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas made it clear in a Monday dissent on a case involving Twitter that he doesn’t think social media platforms have the same First Amendment rights afforded to other forms of media.
Thomas wrote his dissent in a case that involved former President Donald Trump, who had sought to block some Twitter users who he wanted from prevent from commenting on his tweets. The high court ruled the Trump case was now moot since Twitter permanently banned him in January.
Specifically, Thomas said that Congress can pass any laws it wishes to control social media companies and their platforms:
“The petitions highlight two important facts. Today’s digital platforms provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech, including speech by government actors. Also unprecedented, however, is the concentrated control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties.
“We will soon have no choice but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms.”
As Eric Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter noted, Thomas clearly wants to” less-than-subtlety reframe the First Amendment into being about power rather than government censorship.”
Here’s Clarence Thomas looking to less-than-subtlety reframe the First Amendment into being about power rather than government censorship. pic.twitter.com/TMqW6WHGFR
— Eriq Gardner (@eriqgardner) April 5, 2021
Others then weighed in on what Thomas had written and its potential impact on the free speech rights of every American:
🚨Clarence Thomas suggests that social media companies may NOT have a First Amendment right to regulate speech on their platforms, analogizing them to “common carriers” and “places of public accommodation.” https://t.co/2zx7nCtIAz pic.twitter.com/ZleTE1aI0S
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 5, 2021
Unsurprisingly, #SCOTUS vacates an appeals court ruling barring Trump from blocking people from his Twitter account. Justice Thomas issues a concurrence musing on possible legal responses to the power of tech companies over speech. pic.twitter.com/2V2GGzXJw7
— Adam Liptak (@adamliptak) April 5, 2021
🚨Clarence Thomas suggests that social media companies may NOT have a First Amendment right to regulate speech on their platforms, analogizing them to “common carriers” and “places of public accommodation.” https://t.co/2zx7nCtIAz pic.twitter.com/ZleTE1aI0S
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 5, 2021
In other words, Clarence Thomas is inviting Congress to ban social media companies from engaging in content moderation by stripping them of their own First Amendment rights and transforming them, for legal purposes, into common carriers or public accommodations.
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 5, 2021
The First Amendment is under attack from the right wing. They won’t be happy until they destroy social media for daring to ban their lord and savior, Donald Trump.
Featured Image NBC News