Tremendous Progress in Missouri v. Biden

One judge suggested the government "Strongarms" social media companies and that their meetings had included "Veiled and not-so-veiled threats." Another judge described the exchange between the Biden administration and tech companies as the government saying, "Jump!" and the companies responding, "How high?" "That's a really nice social media company you got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it," the judge said, describing the government's coercive tactics.

"The government can say it's bad, but the government can't say, 'Social media platforms, you need to take it down.' Just like a government can't stand at the podium and say, 'Barnes and Noble, you need to burn the bad books, burn the Communist books, whatever it is.' They can't say take down speech on the basis of content." Based on this hearing, the plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden may have a strong chance of winning.

A few excerpts: Early in the afternoon, a three-judge panel met to decide whether or not to revoke a stay of Judge Terry Doughty's sweeping July 4th order barring a battery of government agencies from contacting social media companies about content moderation.

In a case of major historical import, likely headed to the Supreme Court, the federal government hadn't even sent another lawyer to keep him company.

Things then went bad to worse for the government: Before long judges were rattling off greatest hits of both the Missouri v. Biden evidence and Facebook Files material, the worst possible scenario.

There are certain relationships where people know things without always saying the "Or else." Willett put the mob analogy in even plainer language, saying the government's behavior was a "Fairly unsubtle kind of strong-arming," as in, "That's a really nice social media platform you got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it." Then our lawyer John Sauer's took his turn delivering a barrage of evidence and pointed arguments like a caped crusader making short work of helpless thugs: In the court gallery a few clerks winced at one another at certain points of Tenny's address, the way people do at boxing matches when someone walks into a face shot.

While Tenny rambled and spoke in generalities, the loquacious, bespectacled Sauer - who appears descended from some ancient God of rage - tore into the government's arguments with ferocity and specificity. 

https://brownstone.org/articles/tremendous-progress-in-missouri-v-biden/