Trump, Twitter and the First Amendment
We the People
National Constitution Center
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2017
⏱️ 53 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome |
| 0:07.8 | to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate. |
| 0:11.6 | The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America, |
| 0:15.0 | chartered by Congress to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a |
| 0:20.6 | nonpartisan basis. |
| 0:22.5 | And in this episode we will discuss the First Amendment, |
| 0:26.0 | Twitter, and whether the Constitution places any limits |
| 0:29.5 | on President Trump's ability to block citizens from following him on his Twitter feed. |
| 0:35.0 | Last month, the Night First Amendment Institute at Columbia University |
| 0:40.0 | filed suit on behalf of several Twitter users who were blocked from President Trump's Twitter feed. |
| 0:45.6 | Each of them were blocked after they made comments critical of the president. |
| 0:49.6 | The Knight Institute claims that the ban is a violation of the First Amendment, in particular the right |
| 0:54.0 | to free speech and free assembly. |
| 0:56.5 | In their view, a public official social media page should be treated as what the Supreme |
| 1:00.8 | Court is called a designated public forum. |
| 1:03.0 | The Justice Department, defending President Trump, |
| 1:06.0 | says that courts don't have the authority to tell the President how he can manage his private Twitter handle. |
| 1:11.0 | And they also claim that the Knight Institute's request would send the First Amendment |
| 1:15.1 | into deep unchartered waters. Joining us to discuss these absolutely fascinating questions are two |
| 1:21.1 | of America's leading experts on the First Amendment and technology. |
| 1:25.6 | Eugene Volk is the Gary T Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA Law School. |
| 1:31.1 | He is the founder and co-author of the Valick Conspiracy, which regularly hosts |
... |
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