Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey said that the lawsuit alleging collusion between the federal government and social media to censor certain speech is one of his top priorities.
The lawsuit against the Biden administration was filed by former Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, who was elected to the US Senate in November, and Louisiana’s AG Jeff Landry last May.
In July, a judge granted the plaintiff’s motion for discovery to support a potential preliminary injunction. Bailey said that the depositions in the case are likely to result in an injunction.
“We have documentary evidence, we have testimonial evidence and we intend to seek more evidence in the coming weeks,” Bailey told local news outlet The Center Square. “We’re on an expedited discovery timeline. At some point, we’re going to get into a procedural posture where we’re going to ask for an injunction to prevent further coercion and collusion from the federal government and prevent Biden and his team from censoring speech.”
About a week ago, Bailey tweeted emails from Robert Flaherty, the White House Digital Director, to social media platforms. In one of the emails, Flaherty asked Facebook why a video featuring Fox News’ Tucker Carlson about Covid vaccines had not been removed for violating Community Standards.
“What we’ve demonstrated and what we believe is going on is censorship because it’s unelected federal bureaucrats targeting specific speech that they disfavor and asking that it be removed from big-tech social media platforms,” Bailey said. “That’s the problem. It stifles free, fair, and open debate and it undermines our First Amendment. There should be a marketplace of ideas that is free from government censorship.”
