Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CHD File Amicus Brief in Landmark Censorship Case

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For Immediate Release

Amicus filing follows Supreme Court Justice Alito’s administrative pause to U. S. District Court order restricting government communication with social media giants

Washington, D.C. – On Sept. 20, plaintiffs in Kennedy et al. v. Biden filed an amicus brief in opposition to stay following U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s Sept. 14 pause to an order in Missouri v. Biden prohibiting the Biden administration from communicating with social media giants. Two lower courts have found that government officials likely violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor COVID-related “misinformation.” Alito’s ruling placed a temporary hold on the federal judge’s injunction issued July 4 and later upheld by a Sept. 8 ruling of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Justice Alito’s pause, in effect until Sept. 22, followed the Sept. 14 emergency filing, Murthy et al. v. Missouri et al., by the U.S. Department of Justice to the Supreme Court to stay the injunction while the high court considers whether to hear the case.

According to Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD’s) amicus filing, “Companies like Facebook and Google decide every day for hundreds of millions of Americans what they are allowed to say, see, and hear. Because these are private companies, the Constitution ordinarily would not apply to their ‘content moderation’ decisions. But as we now know, and as the documentary record in this case demonstrates, the Federal Government has for several years been waging a systematic, clandestine, and highly effective campaign to get these companies to do what the government itself cannot: censor protected speech on the basis of its content and viewpoint.”

Plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden were given until Sept. 20 to respond to the government’s request to stay.

“We’re at a historic juncture when we must end the government’s Orwellian tactics to censor us,” said Mary Holland, CHD president and counsel of record in the amicus filing. “Over the past three years, we’ve seen the most intense efforts in our nation’s history to silence those who question or criticize the government. We await word from the Supreme Court on whether it will hear this emergency petition regarding the preliminary injunction against government officials.”

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Children’s Health Defense® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our mission is to end childhood health epidemics by working aggressively to eliminate harmful exposures, hold those responsible accountable and establish safeguards to prevent future harm. We fight corruption, mass surveillance and censorship that put profits before people as well as advocate for worldwide rights to health freedom and bodily autonomy.

To donate to CHD to support this and other ongoing lawsuits or for more information, visit ChildrensHealthDefense.org.