The First Amendment suit alleges the US government tried to censor political speech in 2020 and it could do so again in 2024.
One of the most important First Amendment suits in U.S. history will be heard by the Supreme Court in March, according to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, Mr. Bailey, a Republican, said he anticipates oral arguments before the Supreme Court in Missouri v. Biden, which will be heard in a number of months. A decision could be reached as soon as June.
Mr. Bailey’s office is currently preparing its briefing for the Supreme Court and expects to turn it in within weeks.
“We’ve got to build a wall of separation between tech and state to protect our constitutional right to free speech,” Mr. Bailey said.
Missouri v. Biden
The free speech suit filed by the Show-Me State’s attorney general’s office against President Joe Biden alleges that the U.S. federal government conspired with, or forced, leading tech firms like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and X Corp.’s social media platform X formerly known as Twitter, to suppress speech that was politically disagreeable to the candidacy of then Vice President Joe Biden in 2020 by labeling it as either “disinformation,” “misinformation,” or “malinformation.”
The suit alleges the Biden administration worked to suppress negative news about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, content about the veracity of the COVID-19 lab leak theory as well as the effectiveness of vaccines and commentary questioning the integrity of the 2020 election and mail-in voting among others.
The case, initially filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, received a preliminary injunction order in July 2023. It was appealed and ultimately upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in September 2023. In October 2023, that injunction was stayed by the Supreme Court when it agreed to hear the Biden administration’s appeal.
The objective of the forthcoming proceedings, Mr. Bailey said, is to secure a nationwide injunction that would bar the federal government from telling technology companies what is and what isn’t acceptable speech. The case, he said, is still in its preliminary phases, and it will expand if the Supreme Court affirms the lower courts’ decisions.
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