Fifth Circuit Stays Injunction Forbidding Government Censorship via Social Media Platforms

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay of Judge Terry Doughty’s July 4 order forbidding federal agencies from collaborating with social media companies to suppress and censor online speech. The panel consisted of Judges Carl E. Stewart (Clinton), James E. Graves (Obama), and Andrew S. Oldham (Trump).

The temporary stay is just the latest twist in the Missouri vs. Biden case, which documented extensive contact between the federal government and social media companies to prevent some topics, like the efficacy of the COVID vaccine, from being discussed and targeting specific US citizens for suppression because of their opinions.

RedState has covered this case extensively; check these stories for details: Federal Judge Denies Government’s Motion to Stay Injunction in Landmark Free Speech Case, Federal Judge Destroys the Government’s Argument in Favor of Censorship and Educates Them on the First Amendment, Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Censorship Case Against Fauci and Other Biden Officials, ‘This Is Not About Truth — It’s Always Been About Power’: MO AG Andrew Bailey Testifies Before COVID Subcommittee, and Republicans Rack up a Big Win Against Biden and for Free Speech in Missouri.

The temporary stay takes some of the pressure off Biden’s speech suppression apparatus as the case moves toward a review by the Fifth Circuit. I don’t think there are any tea leaves to be read here. There is no commentary in the order, and Oldham, after all, voted in favor of sustaining Texas’s social media law that forbids social media platforms from discriminating based on political belief.