Judge’s order ‘important step in reining in government abuse’
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Wednesday that the “incriminating evidence” that the Biden administration was colluding with social media companies to censor viewpoints was “compelling.”
United States District Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued an injunction Tuesday prohibiting Biden administration officials with multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services, from contacting social media companies to push for “the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” “This injunction by a federal judge is a very important step in reining in government abuse of power,” Jarrett told Fox News host Trace Gallagher.
“You know, the Twitter files and the congressional hearings that followed exposed just how the FBI and other agencies were bullying and pressuring and coercing companies under veiled threats into suppressing media posts for purely political reasons,” Jarrett added.
Doughty denied the Biden administration’s motion on March 20 to dismiss the suit brought on May 5, 2022, by Republican Attorneys General Erik Schmitt of Missouri and Jeff Landry of Louisiana.
“Long ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, Trace, that this kind of censorship by proxy, as it’s known, violates the First Amendment,” Jarrett continued. “Technically, it also is a crime under the U.S. codes for government officials to conspire with others to violate somebody’s constitutional rights.”
Doughty listed 25 instances where social media companies either censored or were pressured to censor by the Biden administration, according to a thread on Twitter posted by Justin Hart, author of the Covid Reasoning newsletter on Substack.
Tucker Carlson, a co-founder of the Daily Caller and Daily Caller News Foundation, was among those targeted for censorship by the Biden administration, according to an April 14, 2021 email from White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty to an unidentified Facebook employee, demanding the company censor Carlson’s video about vaccines released in January.
“Since we’ve been on the phone – the top post about vaccines today is [T]ucker Carlson saying they don’t work. Yesterday it was Tomi Lehren [sic] saying she won’t take one,” Flaherty wrote to a Facebook employee, who promised to look into the matter.
“The incriminating evidence was compelling here. The FBI, Homeland Security, State Department, they were all involved. They were colluding with platforms to forbid dissent,” Jarrett said. “The judge didn’t buy for one minute the DOJ’s rather vacuous argument that their only intent was combatting disinformation in the name of national security.”
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Also read:
- Passage of income tax bill more likely as Gov. Ferguson now says he will sign it
Gov. Bob Ferguson says he will sign a revised income tax proposal targeting earnings above $1 million if the Legislature approves the measure. - Opinion: Many important decisions looming as the 2026 session nears the end
Rep. John Ley outlines budget concerns, energy policy debates and several tax proposals as the 2026 legislative session approaches its final days. - Opinion: 106 striking workers already using unemployment insurance benefits
A Washington Policy Center analyst says the state’s new law allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits is already affecting the UI system. - Pro basketball: Vancouver Bears set to debut new name in new league
Vancouver’s professional basketball franchise has rebranded as the Vancouver Bears and will open its season in a new league March 7 at Hudson’s Bay High School. - State basketball quarterfinals: Columbia River Rapids keep dream alive, advance to final four
Columbia River defeated Pullman in the Class 2A state tournament quarterfinals in Yakima to reach the semifinals, while four other Clark County teams fell in their respective state quarterfinal games. - POLL: Who should have the primary say in decisions about a student’s gender identity at school?
Clark County Today is asking readers who should have the primary role in decisions about a student’s gender identity at school. - Opinion: Study shows 2025’s record tax increases reduce Washington’s GDP growth and worker pay
Todd Myers writes that a new economic analysis projects Washington’s 2025 tax increases will slow GDP growth and reduce wages over the next several years.
