SCOTUS on ‘censorship’ laws
Passed in Fla., Texas to regulate social media companies
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday heard arguments over laws passed by Republican-led states that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users.
The majority of justices seemed skeptical of the constitutionality of laws enacted by Florida and Texas that aim to force social media companies to change policies that some right-wing users say are used to systematically silence them.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the First Amendment puts a “thumb on the scale when that question is asked” about decisions made by private companies, as opposed to the government itself.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who sometimes sides with relative moderates like Roberts, compared the cases to a 1974 decision that gave newspapers the right to decide which opinions to highlight.
Only the three most conservative jurists, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch, appeared to be considering giving the green light for the laws to go into effect.
The court, which held a marathon four-hour oral argument session, is likely to make its decision in the coming months before the end of its term in June.
The controversial Florida and Texas laws were passed in the months after Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, banned Trump from their sites over his posts related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a violent mob of his extremist supporters.
Conservatives say those decisions are emblematic of an industry that is dominated by liberals and seeks to prevent right-wing views from being widely heard.
Trade associations representing the Big Tech companies sued in federal court, claiming that the proposed laws violate the platforms’ free speech rights to shape their platforms as they see fit.
Appeals courts have delivered mixed verdicts, with one federal appeals court striking down Florida’s statute, while another upheld the Texas law.
The Biden administration is siding with the challengers, who say the government has no business telling private social media companies how to regulate content on their sites.
Without that right, the social media companies say their sites would quickly devolve into a hellscape of hate speech and defamation.
They dispute claims by Republicans that they discriminate against conservative voices, noting that many of the most popular content-creators on their platforms are far right-wing figures.
Ramon Gonzalez was a dedicated husband and father looking forward to celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary next year — until a drunken driver sparked a four-car pileup that claimed his life in the Bronx, his family says.
“It’s like a dream. It’s like it didn’t happen,” the 61-year-old Gonzalez’s younger sister, who asked that her name be withheld, told the Daily News. “This has had a big impact on us.”
Gonzalez and his wife were riding in the Honda CR-V driven by their 21-year-old son on the Bruckner Expressway near Pelham Parkway at 5:25 a.m. on Sunday when they struck a 2009 Honda Pilot driven by a drunken 51-year-old Corey Miles, cops and Gonzalez’s family said.
The collision caused the CR-V to careen into a Honda HR-V operated by a 27-year-old man, which in turn collided with a box truck helmed by a 53-yearold man, cops said.
Paramedics rushed Gonzalez and his wife to Jacobi Medical Center but only she could be saved. The couple lived in Wakefield, cops said.
The driver of the Honda HR-V was also taken to Jacobi Medical
Center, along with Miles and a 49-year-old woman riding in his Pilot, cops said.
Gonzalez’s son and the box truck driver declined medical attention.
Police charged Miles with driving while intoxicated. He lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens, according to cops.
The sudden loss of Gonzalez, who acted as the family patriarch in the wake of his father’s death two years ago, has left his family in shock.
“I’m trying to understand the reality of it,” said Gonzalez’s younger brother Agustin Gonzalez. “You don’t expect this kind of thing to happen.”
Gonzalez immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s, family said. He married his wife in 1985 and the couple had two sons and a daughter who gave him three grandchildren, according to his sister.
“He was so dedicated to his wife and children, his whole family,” she said.
Gonzalez worked at the same Fine Fare supermarket in Williamsbridge for more than 30 years, quickly rising from maintenance worker to manager through sheer hard work, according to his boss.
“It was just a little over a year from the time he joined as a maintenance worker and moved to being a manager,” said Carlos Collado, who owns the White Plains Road supermarket. “The No. 1 thing about him was how dedicated and responsible he was.”
Colleagues praised Gonzalez for his easygoing demeanor, saying he was always willing to lend an ear.
“He was a great guy, never had problems with anyone,” said 62-year-old Juan Nunez, who worked at Fine Fare with Gonzalez.
“I would just go to him whenever I needed to talk.”
A devoted Catholic, Gonzalez’s sister last saw her brother at their mother’s house, where he spent many Sundays in prayer.
“I saw him last weekend, we met at my mom’s house,” she said.
“He was coming to pray the rosary with my mom.”
If he wasn’t at church, Gonzalez could often be found showing devotion to his favorite ballclub in Queens.
“He was a die-hard Mets fan. He went to many games,” said brother Agustin Gonzalez. “He used to take the kids. We are Mets fans. That’s our team, you can put it that way.”