Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, sued for blocking people on Twitter

Nine individuals and a free-speech advocacy group sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Thursday, alleging that he violated their First Amendment rights by blocking them on Twitter.

“He has blocked many people from the account because they criticized him or his policies. This practice is unconstitutional,” read the 34-page complaint.

Some of the individuals involved in the federal lawsuit claim they were blocked after commenting on Mr. Paxton’s Twitter posts, saying he should resign or go to jail and calling him names such as “ghoul” and “nerd.” They are all residents of Texas.

“Multiple courts have recognized that government officials who use their social media accounts for official purposes violate the First Amendment if they block people from those accounts on the basis of viewpoint,” said Katie Fallow, an attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute, which is a plaintiff in the case. “People shouldn’t be excluded from these important democratic forums simply because an official doesn’t like what they have to say.”

Mr. Paxton’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The Knight First Amendment Institute was involved in similar litigation against former President Trump.

The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed that challenge earlier this week, reasoning that Mr. Trump is no longer president — or even part of the digital platform that has banned him.

The high court vacated a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with people who sued Mr. Trump when he was president, alleging a First Amendment violation when he blocked them from interacting with his account on Twitter.

The appeals court held that Mr. Trump is a government official and his account was a public forum — not under his private control — so critics should be able to view and interact with his account.

The high court ultimately dismissed the challenge, because Mr. Trump left office on Jan. 20. 

Twitter suspended Mr. Trump from the platform indefinitely in January after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. At the time, he had more than 88 million followers.