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Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, et al. v. Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 18-1691-cv · judgment July 9, 2019

GVR'd · April 5, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 12% cert probability (95% interval 7%–18%)

Before the decision, about 2.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, a Second Circuit decision below, and counsel who has filed here before.

Question presented

Twitter, Inc. is a social media company that enables its users to create accounts through which they post “tweets” and interact with each other. Twitter permits users to “block” other individual users’ accounts, and a blocked user account cannot directly see or reply to the blocking user’s tweets. President Donald J. Trump created a Twitter account as a private citizen in 2009. He has continued to use that personal account since assuming the Presidency, including to announce official actions or policies. In 2017, President Trump blocked individual respondents’ Twitter accounts from his personal account after respondents posted messages on their accounts criticizing him or his policies. The court of appeals held that, in doing so, President Trump violated the First Amendment. The question presented is: Whether the First Amendment deprives a government official of his right to control his personal Twitter account by blocking third-party accounts if he uses that personal account in part to announce official actions and policies. (I)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

For respondent
Jameel Jaffer
Knight First Amendment Institute

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 15 conferences

Proceedings

  1. May 07 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Apr 05 2021
    Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED with instructions to dismiss the case as moot. See United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U. S. 36 (1950). Justice Thomas, concurring. (Detached Opinion)
  3. Mar 29 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/1/2021.
  4. Mar 22 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/26/2021.
  5. Mar 15 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/19/2021.
  6. Mar 01 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/5/2021.
  7. Feb 22 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/26/2021.
  8. Feb 12 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/19/2021.
  9. Jan 21 2021
    Supplemental brief of respondents Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al. filed.
  10. Jan 19 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/22/2021.
  11. Jan 19 2021
    Supplemental brief of petitioners Trump, Donald J., President for the United States, et al. filed.
  12. Jan 11 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/15/2021.
  13. Jan 04 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/8/2021.
  14. Dec 07 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/11/2020.
  15. Nov 30 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/4/2020.
  16. Nov 18 2020
    Rescheduled.
  17. Nov 16 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/20/2020.
  18. Nov 10 2020
    Rescheduled.
  19. Nov 09 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/13/2020.
  20. Nov 04 2020
    Rescheduled.
  21. Nov 02 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/6/2020.
  22. Oct 28 2020
    Rescheduled.
  23. Oct 07 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/30/2020.
  24. Oct 06 2020
    Reply of petitioners Trump, Donald J., President for the United States, et al. filed.
  25. Sep 21 2020
    Brief of respondents Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al. in opposition filed.
  26. Aug 20 2020
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 21, 2020)