Leftists Celebrate Ruling on Trump, but It Just Left AOC Wide Open for Lawsuit
A federal appeals court issued a bombshell ruling on Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s social media habits that will prohibit him from banning users on his personal (and mega-popular) Twitter account. The court cited “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination” for the reason they ruled that way.
And while leftists cheered the decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Trump wasn’t the only politician in town for whom the new ruling has an immediate effect on.
Not long after the courts’s ruling was official, Fox News reported that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has also banned users from viewing her Twitter account, is being sued by Former Democratic New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
The Daily Caller posted proof on Twitter that Ocasio-Cortez blocked them after calling her out on climate change legislation she was pushing.
Shot. Chaser. pic.twitter.com/xSc25lTQ84
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 9, 2019
In Trump’s case, his lawyers tried to argue that his tweets were made in a personal capacity, as opposed to posting on an official government-owned account. Because of that, Trump’s counsel argued that the president should be able to block or ban whomever he pleases.
Though the court made it clear that they weren’t ruling on people being able to ban users on a private account, the court rejected Trump’s lawyers’ argument. Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote in the ruling, “The public presentation of the Account and the webpage associated with it bear all the trappings of an official, state‐run account.”
Because of that criteria, the same rules appear to apply to Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter account, which is a personal account, but one that she uses to make both personal posts and policy-related posts.
Hokind provided Fox News an explanation of why he’s preparing the lawsuit against Ocasio-Cortez and noted that “several others, including journalists,” have been banned from Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter account.
“Most likely we will be [the] only plaintiff, but [we will be] citing other examples,” Hikind continued. “The claim is [the] same as [the] one against Trump. She uses that account for political/policy commentary, so to shut a citizen off from her statements is a problem — as well as blocking me from petitioning her or seeking redress,” Hokind said.
Fox News points out a clear example of Ocasio-Cortez using her popular, personal account (which boasts more than 4.6 million followers) for more than just personal thoughts. A “pinned” post at the top of her Twitter feed is about the Green New Deal legislation that she failed to push through earlier this year.
Climate change is here + we’ve got a deadline: 12 years left to cut emissions in half.
A #GreenNewDeal is our plan for a world and a future worth fighting for.
How did we get here?
What is at stake?
And where are we going?Please watch & share widely ⬇️pic.twitter.com/IMCtS86VXG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 17, 2019
Fox News also cited additional reports of Ocasio-Cortez blocking people for challenging her positions, including one instance from The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra, who was blocked by the lawmaker, writing on April 5 that she “finally blocked me and it was after I called out her latest set of lies.”
But the evolving situation could end up one that might have Ocasio-Cortez on Trump’s side, as bizarre as that may sound.
That’s because the U.S. Department of Justice remained firmly on Trump’s side after the court’s decision. DOJ spokesperson Kelly Laco issued a statement on the ruling.
“We are disappointed with the court’s decision and are exploring possible next steps,” Laco said. “As we argued, President Trump’s decision to block users from his personal twitter account does not violate the First Amendment.”
On the heels of the ruling, anti-Trump people (who are likely to be fans of Ocasio-Cortez) were celebrating the decision as some type of victory. But now that Ocasio-Cortez — who faces a nearly identical situation — is about to feel the heat from the courts, it’ll be interesting to see how her supporters respond.
Liberals cry for free speech and shamed Trump for banning users, but they were dead silent when Ocasio-Cortez did the same exact thing. And when conservative journalists are assaulted and beaten for doing their jobs, like Andy Ngo, the only response we had from the left was crickets.
Where this decision eventually ends up after the appeals process is anyone’s guess at this point. But if the same situation would have happened to Hillary Clinton had she become president, I doubt her supporters would have cheered the court’s decision against her.
Make no mistake — this is just more proof that the double standard on the left is alive and well.
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