Appeals court finds that President Trump cannot block his critics on Twitter

The legal battle between President Donald Trump and his reply guys and Twitter critics is entering a new phase now that a New York-based appeals court has ruled that the president can’t block them from viewing his Twitter feed, according to multiple outlets.

That decision upholds a previous ruling that the president violated the First Amendment when he blocked people who were critical of him and his policies.

The ruling issued by Judge Barrington D. Parker states that “the First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.”

The Twitter blocks were first contested by seven individuals who posted comments critical of the president and his policies back in 2017.

The second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that Trump constituted “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination” by using the Twitter blocking feature to limit access to his social media account.