By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court, exploring free speech rights in the social media era, on Monday agreed to consider whether the Constitution’s First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
The justices took up an appeal by two members of a public school board from the city of Poway in Southern California of a lower court’s ruling in favor of school parents who sued after being blocked from Facebook pages and a Twitter account maintained by the officials.
The justices also took up an appeal by a Michigan man of a lower court’s ruling against him after he sued a city official in Port Huron who blocked him on Facebook following critical posts made by the plaintiff about the local government’s COVID-19 response.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
