(PM.) The Supreme Court heard arguments in the Murthy v. Missouri case, in which the attorney general from Missouri brought a case claiming that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment in colluding with social media platforms to suppress and censor Americans’ speech on social media platforms.
The focus of the questioning by the justices was on the definition of coercion and the standing of Missouri having brought the case.
For Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, however, the key element was that in certain, heightened conditions, the government should have the right to suppress speech.
“My biggest concern is that your view is that you have the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods. I mean, what would you have the government do? ” Jackson asked.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argues on behalf of the government “encouraging or even pressuring platforms to take down harmful information” online. pic.twitter.com/H4IiUrLVDy
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“I’ve heard you say a couple of times that the government can post its own speech, but in my hypothetical, ‘kids this is not safe, don’t do it,’ is not gonna get it done,” she continued.
“So I guess, some might say that the government actually has a duty to take steps to protect the citizens of this country and you seem to be suggesting that that duty cannot manifest itself in the government encouraging, or even pressuring platforms to take down harmful information.”
Jackson said she was “really worried about that.”
