Former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker has applauded a federal appeals court that ruled on Friday that the Biden administration likely violated Americans' First Amendment rights when it worked to censor speech during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whitaker told Newsmax on Monday that the ruling "puts the law where it should be," which is the First Amendment "does not allow the government to restrict an American's right to speech."
The former acting attorney general recalled that during that period of time, the Biden White House and the federal government were using proxies, various social media platforms, in order to de-platform and silence people who did not agree with the official narrative during the pandemic.
Whitaker stressed that "to have a court say that is not permitted under the Constitution and our legal traditions, I think, is a big win for freedoms and the Constitution."
He emphasized that "I feel very strongly that the Constitution is not just for a good day, it is for every day to protect Americans' God given rights from tyrannical governments.
In the Friday decision, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the White House, Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly commandeered speech.
The three-judge panel wrote that "we find that the White House, acting in concert with the Surgeon General's office, likely coerced the platforms to make their moderation decisions ... and significantly encouraged the platforms' decisions."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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