It seems that they took a pass on weighing in on perhaps one of the most important 1st Amendment debates of the modern era. On the one hand, I would have liked to see the court take a firm stance against the government dictating speech. On the other hand, a humble, constructionist court might be right to take a strict position on standing. Either way, this ruling is not good for our Republic and our state of freedom. And the liberals cheering today will come to rue the ruling.

Of immediate significance, the decision means that the Department of Homeland Security may continue to flag posts to social media companies such as Facebook and X that it believes may be the work of foreign agents seeking to disrupt this year’s presidential race.

 

Rather than delving into the weighty First Amendment questions raised by the case, the court ruled that the state and social media users who challenged the Biden administration did not have standing to sue.

 

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority.

 

“To establish standing, the plaintiffs must demonstrate a substantial risk that, in the near future, they will suffer an injury that is traceable to a government defendant and redressable by the injunction they seek,” Barrett wrote. “Because no plaintiff has carried that burden, none has standing to seek a preliminary injunction.”