Joe Biden's First Amendment Legal Blow Sparks MAGA Reaction: 'This Is Huge'

Conservatives have taken to social media to celebrate after a federal appeals court ruled the Joe Biden administration likely violated the First Amendment by putting pressure on social-media companies to remove content that it regarded as misinformation.

The ruling was issued by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Friday. It came in response to a case brought by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, along with a conservative website owner and several individuals who opposed President Biden's COVID-19 policies.

A White House spokesperson told Newsweek: "The DOJ [Department of Justice] is reviewing the court's decision and will evaluate its options in this case. This Administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections.

"Our consistent view remains that social-media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present," the spokesperson added.

Some American conservatives have long argued their views are being censored by major social-media companies, as well as in academia and the media. Arizona Republican Kari Lake said that Google has "a much bigger ability to decide who is running our country... than we the people" during a September 5 appearance before a committee of her state's legislature.

Liberals in turn have accused Republicans of undermining free speech. They point to the removal of some books concerning race and LGBTQ+ issues from school libraries in a number of GOP-controlled states and bans on the teaching of critical race theory.

In their ruling, affirming the original decision from a lower court, the three judges said: "Ultimately, we find the district court did not err in determining that several officials—namely the White House, the Surgeon General, the CDC [federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], and the FBI—likely coerced or significantly encouraged social-media platforms to moderate content, rendering those decisions state actions. In doing so, the officials likely violated the First Amendment."

Issues on which the federal government was accused of pressuring social-media companies to remove content included: the Wuhan lab leak theory for the origins of coronavirus; the effectiveness of vaccines; and the content on Hunter Biden's laptop.

Radio host Clay Travis, who backed Donald Trump in 2020, wrote that the verdict "may well be the most consequential first amendment case of the 21st century" in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Travis later added: "If the government in power can restrict what opinions you can share then we no longer have a first amendment, meaning we no longer have a free country. What Joe Biden's administration did is the biggest governmental attack on the first amendment in any of our lives."

Fox News star Jesse Watters wrote on X: "A bombshell ruling by the 5th circuit court today, finding the Biden White House, the FBI and the CDC violated the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans..."

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, whose state brought the original lawsuit, simply commented on X: "The First Amendment remains intact."

Republican Sen. Rand Paul welcomed the ruling, and called for tougher legislation protecting free speech. He posted: "Americans don't take infringements on their liberty lightly. Under my Free Speech Protection Act the government will no longer be able to cloak itself in secrecy to undermine the First Amendment."

The verdict was also celebrated by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit that says it is committed to protecting constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State.

The alliance wrote: "Big victory! The Fifth Circuit today has vindicated NCLA's clients who—like far too many Americans—have been victims of the unlawful federal censorship enterprise."

Update 9/9/23 7:15 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from the White House.