Liberals Might Regret Social Media Ruling: Stephen L. Carter

I’m trying to figure out why I’m so deeply troubled by this week’s result in Murthy v. Missouri, where the US Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the Biden administration’s “jawboning” of social media companies to remove certain posts about Covid-19 and the 2020 election. In an opinion written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett for a 6-3 majority, the justices determined that the plaintiffs lack standing, a prerequisite for a lawsuit. Maybe they do. Yet I keep coming back to hypotheticals that begin: “Let’s imagine it’s still the McCarthy era” or “Suppose for the sake of argument that Donald ...