Biden DOJ Asks Court To Block Depos In Big Tech Censorship Lawsuit
The Department of Justice is asking the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to block depositions of important officials in the Biden administration.
Court documents obtained by POLITICO show that the Department is asking the court to vacate an order allowing the depositions of Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Jen Easterly, and Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of White House Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty.
Notably, Dr. Anthony Fauci and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki were not included in the motion.
Earlier in the year, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed the lawsuit accusing prominent Biden officials of colluding with Big Tech companies to censor content in order to prevent the spread of so-called “misinformation.”
NewsBusters reported last week that the court ordered the deposition of Biden officials in the lawsuit that could have a lasting impact on free speech online.
The order from the court granting the deposition requests:
“Plaintiffs have proven that Dr. Fauci has personal knowledge about the issue concerning censorship across social media as it related to COVID-19 and ancillary issues of COVID-19. The Court has considered that Dr. Fauci is a high-ranking official, especially as he is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President. The Court sees the only potential burden imposed on Dr. Fauci as a result of him being deposed is that of his time.”
The lawsuit specifically cites original research from Media Research Center and its CensorTrack database in the complaint.
In April, MRC Free Speech America published its findings of 646 cases in CensorTrack of pro-Biden censorship between March 10, 2020, and March 10, 2022.
MRC also found that Big Tech’s censorship of stories covering the Hunter Biden scandals, covered by the New York Post, helped sway the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
MRC #FreeSpeechAmerica Reader,
There’s always been the truth and the Official Truth, and MRC has long noted the large and growing chasm between the two. But today, the question is whether the truth will get out at all, and that’s where #FreeSpeechAmerica comes in.
#FreeSpeechAmerica takes on Big Tech and its Orwellian censorship tactics directly. Its CensorTrack project documents censorship in real-time. Its news team exposes Big Tech’s efforts to censor views that run counter to the Official Truth. It reveals the corruption in relying on leftist-rigged “rating systems” and “fact-checkers” to assess credibility.
Defending conservative speech online and exposing Big Tech efforts to silence conservative voices is a huge job, and we are the only organization doing it.
Your support is crucial. Conservative ideas can address America’s problems, but not if leftists in Big Tech can prevent them from being heard. So donate today to help #FreeSpeechAmerica keep conservative voices online. Your gift of $25 would enable us to wage this critical fight.
– The MRC #FreeSpeechAmerica Team