In May, the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit alleging that Vice President Joe Biden, eight administration officials, and the federal government conspired with and/or coerced Meta, Twitter, and YouTube to censor “disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms.”

According to four counts of the case, social media corporations categorized content as “disinformation” and “misinformation.” Plaintiffs allege that such censorship violates their First Amendment freedom of expression rights.

In addition, the complaint asserts that the federal government’s Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security exceeded their legislative jurisdiction (DHS).

Moreover, the AGs assert that a “Disinformation Governance Board” inside DHS exerted pressure on social media businesses to restrict free expression on:

• The Hunter Biden laptop story prior to the 2020 presidential election;

• Speech about the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin;

• Speech about the efficiency of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns; and

• Speech about election integrity and the security of voting by mail.

“Terry Doughty, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ruled there is “good cause” for the discovery process and set a timetable, including specific deadlines for depositions,” The Olean Times Herald reported.

President Joe Biden, members of his administration and select social media companies must turn over documents and answer questions within the next 30 days during a discovery phase of a lawsuit alleging collusion to suppress freedom of speech, a court ruled.

“In May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit against top-ranking Biden Administration officials for allegedly colluding with social media giants to suppress freedom of speech on a number of topics including the origins of COVID-19, the efficacy of masks, and election integrity,” Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s seat (Blunt is retiring), said in a statement. “Today, the Court granted our motion for discovery, paving the way for my office to gather important documents to get to the bottom of that alleged collusion. This is a huge development.”

The AGs submitted a move for accelerated discovery regarding preliminary injunctions, but the Biden administration rejected it. Officials from the Biden administration claimed that Louisiana and Missouri cannot initiate a parens patria litigation against the federal government to safeguard residents who are unable to defend themselves.

More on this story via The Republic Brief:

“The administration argued the states can’t meet an “injury in fact” standard, defined as “it suffered ‘an invasion of a legally protected interest’ that is ‘concrete,’ ‘particularized,’ and ‘actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical.’” The administration contended there wasn’t a link between alleged injuries to the states and the government’s alleged actions and argued the states can’t demonstrate how the court will provide justice for an alleged “injury in fact,”” the report added. CONTINUE READING…