JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A federal judge has ruled a Missouri state representative violated a critic’s constitutional rights by blocking him from her Twitter account.
KMIZ-TV reports U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes said in Friday’s ruling that Rep. Cheri Toalson Reisch’s political Tweets made her account a public forum, not a personal one as she argued. Wimes said that meant it was a violation of Mike Campbell’s First Amendment free speech rights to block him when he retweeted another state representative who criticized Reisch. She has since deleted the Twitter account.
Wimes cited precedent set last year when another judge ruled that President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked critics on Twitter.
Reisch, a Republican from Hallsville, expressed disappointed in the decision in a statement released by her lawyer.
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