Paxton sued over blocking of critics
Two free speech advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Thursday against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of nine people who have been blocked from his Twitter account after criticizing him on the site.
The 34-page suit, filed in federal court in Austin by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, seeks for the court to declare this practice of Paxton’s a violation of the First Amendment. It also seeks a court order that he unblock anyone he rejected because of their opinions.
“Multiple courts have recognized that government officials who use their social media accounts for official purposes violate the First Amendment if they block people from those accounts on the basis of viewpoint,” said Katie Fallow, a senior staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute. “People shouldn’t be excluded from these important democratic forums simply because an official doesn’t like what they have to say.”
The attorney general’s office and Paxton’s campaign spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hearst Newspapers on March 9 requested a list of all the accounts that @KenPaxtonTX had blocked.
The office responded within 24 hours that it“does not manage General Paxton’s personal or campaign social media accounts.” It added that no one is blocked on the office’s Twitter account, @TXAG, or its Facebook page.
The lawsuit makes the case that Paxton “regularly uses the @KenPaxtonTX account to make official announcements or provide information that is not communicated through the @TXAG account” and cites several examples.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers point to previous decisions by federal appellate courts holding that it is unconstitutional for public officials to block people from their official social media accounts. The Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the issue.
Some of the plaintiffs were blocked after they tweeted their views about Paxton’s qualifications and policies, such as his unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
One tweet read, “wear a mask nerd,” after Paxton retweeted a photo of himself at the Conservative Political Action Conference mid-pandemic. A day later, the plaintiff was blocked.
Paxton’s habit of cutting off users who bash him on Twitter is well-documented on the site. A simple search of his handle and the word “blocked” produces myriad examples.
“Looks like @KenPaxtonTX is now blocking me,” University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck tweeted on Jan 7. “Yesterday, I criticized him for claiming that those who stormed the Capitol ‘weren’t Trump supporters.’ Sigh.”
On March 26, Texas Observer reporter Justin Miller found a workaround. With the help of a “good samaritan” programmer, he created a bot account that automatically posts screenshots of Paxton’s tweets in real time.
“I must also note that Paxton promptly blocked the anti-block bot account soon after it launched,” Miller tweeted.