Washington, D.C.—Today, NetChoice celebrates victory in the Supreme Court of the United States after the Court granted NetChoice and CCIA’s emergency application to stay the Fifth Circuit’s unexplained, 2-1 order issued May 11th.
While today’s victory is welcome news, we’re only halfway there—our case will soon return to the district court, where we’ll proceed to arguments on the merits. And as this case proceeds, we await a ruling from the 11th Circuit in our parallel case against the State of Florida.
“The government cannot force American businesses to host and spread a mass murderer’s vile manifesto, Putin’s anti-West propaganda, or an antisemite’s Holocaust denial,” said Chris Marchese, Counsel at NetChoice.
“In passing HB 20, the Texas legislature ran roughshod over the First Amendment,” continued Marchese, “so we’re relieved that users will remain protected from the flood of horrible content Texas would have unleashed on popular websites and services as the case proceeds in the district court.”
“Given the district court’s well-reasoned conclusion that Texas’ law is so likely to cause irreparable harm that it must be paused in its entirety, we are confident the courts will likewise strike it down,” said Marchese.
For more information about how HB 20 would force sites to host awful but lawful content, check out:
- Our resource page on NetChoice v. Paxton
- “Did Twitch Violate Texas’ Social Media Law By Removing Mass Murderer’s Live Stream Of His Killing Spree?” – Article by Mike Masnick
- TechFreedom’s support for our emergency request for SCOTUS, including examples of offensive content that sites would be forced to host under HB 20
- Our video explaining the dangers of forcing sites to host content
Chris Marchese also commented on the constitutional aspects of today’s news:
“Texas’s HB 20 is a constitutional trainwreck—or, as the district court put it, an example of ‘burning the house to roast the pig,’” said Chris Marchese, Counsel at NetChoice. “We are relieved that the First Amendment, open internet, and the users who rely on it remain protected from Texas’s unconstitutional overreach.”
“Despite Texas’s best efforts to run roughshod over the First Amendment, it came up short in the Supreme Court,” said Marchese. “HB 20 will once again be enjoined and the case will proceed in the lower courts.”
“Given the district court’s well-reasoned conclusion that Texas’s law is so constitutionally flawed that it must be enjoined in its entirety, we are confident the courts will likewise strike it down in its entirety,” continued Marchese.