President Donald Trump cannot block users on his Twitter feed, a federal judge in New York City ruled on Wednesday.
Preventing individual users from viewing his Twitter account is unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wrote in her ruling. Twitter, she said, is a "designated public forum" from which the president cannot exclude certain plaintiffs.
"While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the President’s personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him," Buchwald wrote in her ruling.
The judge's ruling was in response to a case filed last July by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The institute represented seven individuals who said they had been blocked from directly interacting with the president on the social media platform.
The Knight Institute's executive director, Jameel Jaffer, said in a statement, "We're pleased with the court's decision, which reflects a careful application of core First Amendment principles to government censorship on a new communications platform."
Jaffer added, "The President's practice of blocking critics on Twitter is pernicious and unconstitutional, and we hope this ruling will bring it to an end."
Katie Fallow, a senior staff attorney at the institute, said, "The First Amendment prohibits government officials from suppressing speech on the basis of viewpoint ... The court's application of that principle here should guide all of the public officials who are communicating with their constituents through social media."
The president loves Twitter and his tweets routinely make the news. He even uses the social media platform to announce senior administration departures (Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Veterans Affairs Chief David Shulkin were both fired via a tweet from Trump). In 2012, Trump tweeted, "I love Twitter.... it's like owning your own newspaper---without the losses."
Twitter announced on Wednesday that it will begin verifying political candidates running for the House, Senate and governor in general elections this fall.
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