By Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday brought an end to a legal fight over former President Donald Trump’s effort to block critics from following his now-frozen Twitter account, deciding the dispute was moot and throwing out a lower court’s decision that found he had violated constitutional free speech rights.
Trump had appealed after the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that he had ran afoul of U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by blocking his critics on the social media platform. Trump, a Republican, left office in January, replaced by Democratic President Joe Biden.
With Trump no longer president, the justices declined to hear arguments and resolve the case on the merits, tossing out the 2nd Circuit decision.
Throughout his presidency, Trump had regularly used Twitter to promote his agenda and attack detractors. Twitter banned Trump from its service days after a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a deadly riot on Jan. 6.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
