A federal judge in Manhattan suggested Thursday that President Trump mute his Twitter followers, as opposed to outright blocking them, as a means of settling a First Amendment lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald made the recommendation during arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of the president blocking his detractors.
“Isn’t the answer he just mutes the person he finds personally offensive?” Buchwald asked, according to the Associated Press. “He can avoid hearing them by muting them.”
Thursday’s hearing was part of a lawsuit the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed in July along with seven people who were blocked by the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account after criticizing the president.
The Justice Department pushed for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
The Knight First Amendment Institute argues the president’s Twitter account is a public forum, and by blocking the seven people, First Amendment rights were violated.
Additionally, other Twitter users who haven’t been blocked are “now deprived of their right to read the speech of the dissenters who have been blocked,” lawyers for the Knight First Amendment Institute said in court documents.
During Thursday’s hearing, lawyers for the government and the Knight First Amendment Institute indicated they’re open to considering Buchwald’s recommendation.
The judge warned that if the two sides can’t reach an agreement in the case, it may result in a decision they dislike.
“Like with every case, there is always a risk you can lose. If there’s a settlement, that serves the interests of all parties,” Buchwald said. “It’s often considered the wisest way to go.”
The White House has stated Trump’s tweets are “official statements,” and the president has used the account to make policy and personnel announcements.
Last year, for example, Trump announced a new policy banning transgender individuals from serving in the military. He also used his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account to reveal Christopher Wray would be his pick to replace Jim Comey as director of the FBI.
The Justice Department acknowledged in court documents the president did block the accounts belonging to the seven plaintiffs in the case and said Trump decided to block them due to tweets that “generally expressed displeasure with the president, often with inflammatory language.”
But the government argued Trump uses the account, which was started years before he became president, on his own accord, and said his decision to block other users on the account “is not properly considered state action.”
“The president, like other public officials, routinely engages in conduct that is not state action, whether that might be giving a toast at a wedding or giving a speech at a fundraiser,” the Justice Department said in court documents.
