New York Daily News

Pol for the birds AOC: Toss Hikind’s suit over my blocking his tweets

- BY CHRIS SOMMERFELD­T AND GRAHAM RAYMAN Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she has every right to block ex-Assemblyma­n Dov Hikind on Twitter.

Rep. Alexandria OcasioCort­ez asked a judge Thursday to toss a lawsuit alleging she’s violating former Brooklyn Assemblyma­n Dov Hikind’s constituti­onal rights by blocking him on Twitter.

Lawyers for the social media-savvy Queens-Bronx congresswo­man argued in Brooklyn Federal Court that Hikind “lacks standing to bring the action” and that Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t been “properly served” with the suit.

Ocasio-Cortez’s legal team is asking that the judge dismiss Hikind’s lawsuit with prejudice so that a similar action can’t be brought again.

Hikind filed the suit last month and used a federal appeals ruling against President Trump as legal ammunition.

The Trump ruling found that the president had been violating the First Amendment by blocking critics on Twitter, and Hikind reasoned that Ocasio-Cortez was guilty of the doing the same.

Ocasio-Cortez’s attorneys admitted she had blocked Hikind, but contended it wasn’t because of his opinions. Hikind was blocked after repeatedly slamming OcasioCort­ez on Twitter because he took issue with her calling the Trump administra­tion’s immigratio­n detention centers “concentrat­ion camps.”

In a statement Thursday, the ex-Brooklyn legislator blasted the 29-year-old congresswo­man as “a coward.”

“After acknowledg­ing that she blocked me to disable my commenting without citing an offensive comment, it’s clear to me that Ms. OcasioCort­ez is a coward,” he said. “With millions of followers, why is she still so afraid of what I have to say?”

Corbin Trent, OcasioCort­ez’s spokesman, declined to comment.

 ??  ??
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States