The legal attempt to get unblocked on Twitter is not going well.
"Trump’s bid to get back on Twitter is 'on thin ice' after judge cites 'mountain of law' against him
"U.S. District Judge James Donato told a lawyer representing the former president that while technology and law might change and evolve, 'one thing that's been more or less a constant going back 20 years is that private companies like Twitter are not subject to the First Amendment,'" Courthouse News reports.
Judge Donato made the statement Thursday during a hearing in San Francisco on Twitter's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Trump last year, seeking the reinstatement of his account. According to Courthouse News, Donato signaled "a strong inclination" to rule in favor of Twitter's motion.
“You've got a mountain of law saying ‘no' to your First Amendment claim. It’s not clear to me how you are traversing that,” Donato told Trump attorney Marie Fiala.
Trump's attorneys have argued that Twitter acted in concert with Democratic lawmakers to ban him, thereby making the company a "state actor." But Donato rejected that claim.
“It's perfectly fine for a politician to express dissatisfaction with conduct. I'm not looking for what a Democrat said at a committee hearing but an actual threat,” Donato said. “We're talking express threats of government prosecution, some kind of criminal sanction, a taking."
He added that as alleged by Trump, "the threat factor seems pretty low." "
