Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez being sued by 'conservative' journalist for blocking him on Twitter along with other critics
A "conservative" journalist is suing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for blocking him on Twitter. Harry Cherry, a former reporter for The Jewish Voice, has filed a lawsuit against Cortez, the US Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, alleging that she has violated his First Amendment rights by blocking him on the social media platform.
Cherry filed the suit, in which he will be representing himself, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and attached a copy of it in a tweet. He alleged that he had been blocked by the congresswoman "because of opinions he expressed regarding AOC and in reply to the Defendant's tweets, often fact-checking statements made by her in real-time."
"The manner in which @AOC uses the @AOC Twitter account makes it a public forum under the First Amendment," it read. "Defendant's account is open and accessible to all taking advantage of Twitter's interactive platform to directly engage AOC's 4.7 million followers."
The lawsuit thus claimed that "blocking" someone who expressed contrary views was "unconstitutional and must end", as the "very practice has been litigated with regard to President Donald Trump blocking individuals on Twitter, and has been found unconstitutional."
"Libs sued President Trump and made new rules. I am using their new rules against them!" Cherry wrote in his tweet announcing his lawsuit.
Cherry might have a case, especially taking into consideration a recent ruling by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said, "If the First Amendment means anything, it means that the best response to disfavored speech on matters of public concern is more speech, not less."
A three-judge panel said it was unconstitutional for a political figure to "engage in viewpoint discrimination by utilizing Twitter's "blocking" function to limit certain users access to [a] social media account, which is otherwise open to the public at large, because [they] disagree with their speech."
Cherry isn't the only one suing Ocasio-Cortez either. Former New York state assemblyman Dov Hikind and Joseph Saladino, a YouTube personality running for Congress, have also filed similar claims against the congresswoman for blocking them on Twitter, according to the BBC.
Like Cherry, both cited the Appeals Court's recent ruling against Donald Trump that said he was breaking the law by blocking critics on the social media platform. Ocasio-Cortez and her representatives have not yet commented on the lawsuit.