Monroe Senator Katrina Jackson faces litigation after blocking a Twitter user from commenting on her page. Tulane First Amendment Law Clinic Director Katie Schwartzmann said the courts consider the internet a public forum and when a public official blocks a constituent from commenting it’s a First Amendment violation.
“When a government official opens a public forum for discussion on their social media profile they can’t then pick and choose which viewpoints are considered in that conversation,” said Schwartzmann.
Schwartzmann said the goal of the lawsuit is the prevent censorship of these types of discussions in the future.
“So it’s our hope, not only that our client will be reinstated but that the Senator will no block other individuals moving forward,” said Schwartzmann.
In addition to the plaintiff, Schwartzmann said other users have also claimed that Senator Jackson has blocked them in the past.
As a public official, Schwartzmann said Jackson signed up for debate and dialogue when she ran for office and over the past five years in similar cases, the precedent has been set that social media is a public forum and blocking a user from a public official’s page is a First Amendment violation.
“This has sort of bubbled to the surface and so yes, courts have considered this in various contexts,” said Schwartzmann.
Jackson released a comment that free speech is not a blank check and that no public official nor any internet user should be subjected to bullying or abusive language. She also said her Twitter account shows no record of the plaintiff by name.
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