On Tuesday a federal appeals court in New York ruled that President Donald Trump, when using his infamous @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, cannot block his critics. That decision upholds an earlier district court ruling.
The court found that an account used by a public official to conduct "all manner of public purposes" cannot exclude those who disagree that official from participating in an open, online discussion.
The Justice Department defended the president in the case, which was first brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute in 2017. The Institute represented several critics of the president who have been "blocked" by the @realDonaldTrump account.
In an emailed statement, Justice Department spokesperson Kelly Laco said, "We are disappointed with the court's decision and are exploring possible next steps. As we argued, President Trump's decision to block users from his personal twitter account does not violate the First Amendment."
However, the court found that the account was not "private," meaning the government had engaged in "viewpoint discrimination," which violates the First Amendment.
When asked by Cheddar whether Twitter would stop the @realDonaldTrump account from blocking other users, the social media company declined to comment.
"Public officials' social media accounts are now among the most significant forums for discussion of government policy," said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight Institute, in a press release Tuesday. "This decision will ensure that people aren't excluded from these forums simply because of their viewpoints, and that public officials aren't insulated from their constituents' criticism."
Trump has frequently announced his policy intentions ー and other ruminations on politics ー through that account, though he also has access to an official presidential Twitter account run by the White House.
Also unhelpful to the Justice Department's argument that the account is private is that multiple White House officials have referred to the @realDonaldTrump account as an official source of information. For instance, in 2017, then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that tweets from that account should be considered "official statements by the President," and the White House itself has included statements made from the account in collections of official White House records.
The White House Director of Social Media, and assistant to the president, Dan Scavino, helps Trump run that account.
President Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth time this year. Biden and Putin spoke for two hours about the massing of Russian troops and materials near the Russian border with Ukraine. Various outlets have reported that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in the next few months. Both countries said the call was productive, but the situation remains tense.
Hagar Chemali, foreign policy expert and host of "Oh My World!" on YouTube, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicated that Hispanic voters are up for grabs for the upcoming midterm elections, with 41 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Democrats and 44 percent for Republicans. Bryanta "Bre" Maxwell, a Democratic Strategist, former political director for Jaime Harrison's senate campaign, and principal and CEO of Indigo Consulting, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down the numbers and to dive into what this specific electorate is looking for as the balance of power in Congress hangs in the balance in 2022.
Vice President Kamala Harris received impressive amount of media coverage in January for making history. However, the media attention waned significantly and some are now even saying she has almost disappeared from public view. Reecie Colbert, founder of BlackWomenViews Media, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more.
If you thought you heard the last of the Mueller report back in 2019, you'd be wrong. While the bombshell report was the biggest story in Washington for years, much of the report remained redacted. Our friends at BuzzFeed News weren't satisfied, so they sued to have certain passages unredacted. They notched another win when a federal appeals court ordered ten passages from the report to be released.
Matt Topic, BuzzFeed's attorney in the case, and Jason Leopold, reporter at BuzzFeed News, join Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The U.S. reported its first confirmed case of the omicron variant in California on Wednesday. Scientists and health officials are racing to understand the variant, with the WHO saying it's still too early to determine whether it's more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to vaccines than other variants. Omicron has pushed members of the WHO to commit to start talks over a "gobal pandemic treaty" for future pandemic preparedness.
Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Wednesday was not a good day for those who believe in abortion rights in this country as the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Mississippi abortion law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of the court appears poised to roll back abortion rights, and the questions from the conservative justices seemed to indicate the law for nearly 50 years is likely to change.
Jessica Mason Pieklo, senior vice president and executive editor of Rewire News Group, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss Wednesday's hearing.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been busy since completing his prison sentence in November. He's getting into the NFT space, selling his federal prison badge and the original manuscript of his book "Disloyal" as NFTs. Cohen joined Cheddar to discuss his latest venture and why he thinks there is still much to be revealed about his case.
Jonathan Adler, Law Professor at Case Western Reserve University, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Tuesday's ruling and provide legal context to recent battles over vaccine mandates.
