Supreme Court takes up legal spat over public officials blocking people on social media

The court took up two separate cases involving much-lower-profile figures — two members of the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees in southern California and the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan. But the legal dispute is the same: Can blocking someone on social media give rise to a free speech violation under the Constitution’s First Amendment?

In the California case, board members Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane in 2017 blocked Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, parents of students in the school district, from commenting on their Facebook pages, and in the case of O’Connor-Ratcliff, responded to her Twitter posts. Zane has since left office.

The Michigan case arose in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. City Manager James Freed posted information on his Facebook page, which described him as a “public figure,” about efforts the city was taking to deal with the public health crisis. Freed says the Facebook page, which is no longer active, was a personal page. He used it to share pictures of his family and comment on his daily activities, he added.

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