U.S. Supreme Court to hear social media free speech case

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a free speech case involving the federal government and social media censorship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court, which granted certiorari on Friday, could be poised to issue a landmark decision in the case, known as Louisiana and Missouri vs. Biden et al., to define the federal government's ability to clamp down on speech from social media platforms.

"We are pleased to learn that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this case, giving us yet another opportunity to defend the people from this assault on our First Amendment rights," Solicitor General Liz Murrill said in a news release. "It brings us one step closer to reestablishing the protections guaranteed to us in the Constitution and under the First Amendment.

"We hope that the Supreme Court will agree that this gross abuse of power must stop and never happen again."

The May 2022 lawsuit was brought by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt over what the two prosecutors say is the Biden administration's censorship of conservative views on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty's order issued on July 4 prevents the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Census Bureau, FBI, U.S. Department of Justice and members of the president's executive office from having any discussions with social media companies about "encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech."

Doughty's order was appealed by the federal government to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of the two states.