Supreme Court May Decide Whether Officials Can Block Social Media Users

The Supreme Court will hear two cases that could decide whether the First Amendment allows government officials to block users on personal social media accounts where they post about their work.

Judges will now decide a case brought by two parents from Poway, a city in the San Diego area, who regularly contacted school board members to “express their concerns about such important topics as mismanagement and racist bullying.”

Christopher and Kimberley Garnier grew up there, graduated from public schools, and had three children who went to school. But two school board members – Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliffe and T.J. Zane – decided they had had enough of what they called “repetitive and unanswered comments” from the couple.  Their lawyer told the court, “Christopher made the same comment on 42 different O’Connor-Ratcliffe posts and the same reply on 226 of her tweets.”

When two board members blocked Garniers from their Facebook and Twitter accounts, Garniers filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging 1st Amendment violations. They won a case in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the board members turned their social media accounts into a public forum.

Board members called on the Supreme Court to review their case and overturn the 9th Circuit’s decision. They claimed they were expressing their personal opinions on social media, and their Facebook or Twitter accounts did not speak for the school districts.

The second case is linked to James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, who has suspended accounts and removed comments from his Facebook page. None of these cases relate to whether platforms can block or otherwise moderate users, a question the Supreme Court is likely to consider at a later date.