US Asks Supreme Court to Pause Social Media Contacts Block

The US Solicitor General asked the US Supreme Court to pause an early block on the Biden administration’s contact with social media platforms over moderating vaccine misinformation.

The government made the request Tuesday in a second memorandum, after the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit withdrew its ruling that upheld but limited the trial court’s preliminary injunction. The Fifth Circuit also ordered that the preliminary injunction issued by the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana remain stayed, pending resolution of a petition for panel rehearing by the states of Missouri and Louisiana.

The high court should issue its own stay because the Fifth Circuit’s stay runs only through resolution of the petition for panel rehearing, the government said. “Unless this Court grants its own stay now, the government will be forced to return to the Court with another stay application when the Fifth Circuit acts on the petition for panel rehearing,” the government said.

• The government filed an application for a stay of the injunction on Sept. 14 with the Supreme Court. Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay that was extended until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 27
• A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit had narrowed the scope of the injunction to the White House, the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control, and the FBI
• In their petition for rehearing, the states said the panel “overlooked or misapprehended material points of fact relevant to the injunction” against the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, and the Election Integrity Partnership/Virality Project
• The states allege the administration worked with Meta; X, formerly known as Twitter; and YouTube to censor free speech
• The Solicitor General also asked the court to construe its stay application as a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the Fifth Circuit’s judgment. If the court declines to do so, the government will file a writ of certiorari after the Fifth Circuit has resolved the rehearing petition
• The Fifth Circuit ordered the Biden administration to respond to the petition for rehearing by Sept. 28

The case is Murthy v. Missouri, U.S., No. 23A243, memorandum filed 9/26/23.