Carol Platt Liebau: The Coward’s Way Out

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In Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court has taken the coward’s way out. In a 6-3 ruling, it declined to rule on whether the Biden administration could coerce social media companies to censor and shadowban people who disagree with it. It said the plaintiffs lacked standing—that those who sued hadn’t shown a sufficient injury to bring the case.

This ought to be distressing for everyone who cares about free speech. The Biden administration clearly engaged in censorship by surrogate—using social media companies to silence those it could not legally silence on its own.

But there is good news. First, future plaintiffs can challenge the Biden censorship regime. Second, bad legal news is great political news: Donald Trump could—and should—make free speech a centerpiece of his campaign. Republicans in Congress can draft laws to protect our First Amendment and draw a contrast with our left-wing government censors.

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