©2024 The News Service of Florida
A federal judge has scheduled a trial in January 2026 in a fight about the constitutionality of a 2021 Florida law that placed restrictions on social media platforms.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle last week issued an order that included scheduling a trial to start Jan. 5, 2026.
The order revised an earlier schedule that would have led to a trial in November 2025.
The tech-industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association are challenging the constitutionality of the law, which, for example, would prevent platforms from banning political candidates from their sites and require companies to publish — and apply consistently — standards about issues such as banning users or blocking their content.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature approved the law after Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, blocked now-President-elect Donald Trump from their platforms after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hinkle in 2021 issued a preliminary injunction to block the law on First Amendment grounds.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022 upheld most of Hinkle’s decision.
But on July 1, the Supreme Court vacated the appeals court ruling and said the lawsuit needed further consideration, resulting in the case going back to Hinkle.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court did not resolve the constitutional issues but said the 11th Circuit and another appeals court in a similar Texas case did not properly consider the “facial nature” of challenges to the laws, a critical element in deciding whether they met constitutional muster.
Leave a Reply
