Two nonprofit organizations sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after plaintiffs said he blocked a handful of Twitter users who criticized his policies.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court. They are representing nine individuals who lost the ability to view and interact with Paxton’s Twitter account, @KenPaxtonTX, following rebukes toward him.
Paxton’s behavior was “unconstitutional,” attorneys for the organizations said, and they are seeking injunctive relief to unblock the users in question.
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“Defendant Texas Attorney General Warren Kenneth Paxton, Jr., (‘Attorney General Paxton’ or ‘Defendant’) uses the @KenPaxtonTX Twitter account for official purposes — including to share information with constituents and solicit their views about government policy — but he has blocked many people from the account because they criticized him or his policies,” the plaintiffs wrote in the suit. “This practice is unconstitutional.”
One of the Twitter users, Mario Carrillo, a campaign manager for a pro-immigration organization, called Paxton a “ghoul” before he was blocked on Feb. 27, the lawsuit read.
Another, John Ruffier, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, told the attorney general to “wear a mask nerd” before being blocked on Feb. 28.
Others criticized Paxton for actions from five years ago when he was accused of felony securities fraud charges.
“Enjoy the fresh air before you go to prison, Kenneth!” wrote Joseph Cascino, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, whom Paxton blocked on Jan. 4.
Paxton’s actions are a violation of the First Amendment and an effort to “suppress speech,” said Kate Huddleston, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas.
“Attorney General Paxton is preventing Texans from exercising their First Amendment rights. He cannot bar them from directly expressing their criticisms of his policies and qualifications by blocking them on Twitter,” she said in a statement. “This is yet another example of the Attorney General’s many violations of Texans’ civil rights and liberties and an authoritarian effort to suppress speech with which he disagrees.”
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In July 2017, the Knight First Amendment Institute sued former President Donald Trump for similar blocking practices.
Trump’s Twitter account “is a ‘public forum’ under the First Amendment, from which the government may not exclude people based simply on their views,” attorneys for the group claimed.
Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
