President Trump cannot have it both ways.
He cannot use Twitter as a government form of policy making or communications with the public one moment, and in the next claim it’s his domain and block members of the Twitter public who are critical of him.
A three-judge federal appeals panel of the Second Circuit (two appointed by President George W. Bush and one appointed by President Barack Obama) ruled unanimously Tuesday to uphold a 2018 lower court ruling that Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked Twitter users who were critical of him as president or of his policies. The case has implications for how elected officials nationwide interact with their constituents on social media.
In that first ruling, Judge Naomi Buchwald (appointed by President Bill Clinton) wrote that “No government official – including the President – is above the law.”
We keep hearing that, but then Trump keeps acting above the law. Judges rule against him, and he may make a slight change, yet the flavor of his stubborn disdain for law, the Constitution and American tradition stays the same.