Judge Doughty issued an important 155 page ruling in the matter of Missouri v. Biden today, July

Freedom
of Speech must never again be shuttered, trampled on or blasphemied as
the crime of “Misinformation, Disinformation or Malinformation”

Judge
Doughty used 721 footnotes. He must have amazing young clerks. And on
page 3 the good Judge included the following quotes to remind us why
July 4 and our nation’s principles are so important to uphold:

For
if men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter,
which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can
invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the
freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep, to the slaughter. 

George Washington, March 15, 1783. 

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the free acts of speech. 

Benjamin Franklin, Letters of Silence Dogwood. 

Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. 

Thomas Jefferson. 

Once
a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of
opposition, it has only one place to go, and that is down the path of
increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to
all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. 

Harry S. Truman

__________

This is what Judge Doughty wrote, in small part:

“This
case is about the Free Speech Clause in the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution. The explosion of social-media platforms has
resulted in unique free speech issues— this is especially true in light
of the COVID-19 pandemic. If the allegations made by
Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive
attack against free speech in United States’ history. In their attempts
to suppress alleged disinformation, the Federal Government, and
particularly the Defendants named here, are alleged to have blatantly
ignored the First Amendment’s right to free speech.
Although the censorship alleged in this case almost exclusively targeted
conservative speech, the issues raised herein go beyond party lines.
The right to free speech is not a member of any political party and does
not hold any political ideology.

The Plaintiffs
have presented substantial evidence in support of their claims that they
were the victims of a far-reaching and widespread censorship campaign.
This court finds that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their
First Amendment free speech claim against the Defendants. Therefore, a
preliminary injunction should issue immediately against the Defendants .
. . .”

The NY Times is apparently not all in on free
speech. They prefer censorship. See how the Gray Lady “All the news
that fits, we print” falsely spins this decision as impeding efforts to
stop human trafficking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/business/federal-judge-biden-social-media.html

A
federal court in Louisiana on Tuesday barred parts of the Biden
administration from communicating with social media platforms about
broad swaths of content online, a ruling that could curtail efforts to combat false and misleading narratives about the coronavirus pandemic and other issues.

In the ruling, Judge
Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Louisiana said that parts of the government, including the Department
of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
could not talk to social media companies for “the purpose of urging,
encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal,
deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free
speech.”

Judge Doughty said in granting a preliminary injunction that the
agencies could not flag specific posts to the social media platforms or
request reports about their efforts to take down content.
The ruling said that the government could still notify the platforms
about posts detailing crimes, national security threats or foreign
attempts to influence elections.

The ruling was a victory for Republicans and other conservatives who have filed a series of lawsuits
accusing the government of cajoling or coercing Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and other social media companies to censor its critics. Although
the ruling is likely to be appealed by the administration, its
impact could be sweeping, forcing government officials, including law
enforcement agencies, to refrain from notifying the platforms of
troublesome content.

Government officials have
argued they do not have the authority to order posts or entire accounts
removed, but they have long cooperated with Big Tech to take action
against illegal or harmful material, especially in cases involving
criminal activities like child sexual abuse or human trafficking. That
has also included regular meetings to share information on, for example, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups.

The
White House did not immediately offer a comment. Google and Meta, which
owns Facebook and Instagram, did not immediately respond to requests
for comment. Twitter did not immediately have a comment.

I
can’t help saying that my medical license was immediately
suspended—without a hearing or any chance to defend myself—in January
2022 for spreading misinformation, and yet every bit of what the state
of Maine claimed was misinformation has been revealed as truth. My
license remains suspended, but soon the state of Maine will learn what
the First Amendment is all about.