President Joe Biden may have another court battle on his hands.
But this one doesn’t have anything to do with his son, Hunter.
This time, it’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who could be taking Biden’s team to court.
A Daily Caller report stated that a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can continue to pursue his censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration.
🚨 BREAKING: RFK Jr. and CHD Get Green Light to Sue Biden Administration for Censorship
A Louisiana district court ruled late Tuesday that plaintiffs @RobertKennedyJr and Children’s Health Defense have the legal right to sue the Biden administration for pressuring tech giants… pic.twitter.com/54ZjXdsivt
— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) August 21, 2024
The Supreme Court ruled in June that state and individual plaintiffs who alleged the Biden administration violated their First Amendment rights when it pressured social media companies to suppress speech did not have standing to sue.
According to the report, District Court Judge Terry Doughty found Kennedy meets the standard set by the Supreme Court because there is “ample evidence” to show he has been censored in the past at the direction of government actors and “substantial risk” that the censorship will continue.
Under the Supreme Court’s Murthy v. Missouri ruling, Doughty explained that “a court must make specific findings that a particular defendant pressured a particular platform to censor a particular topic before the platform suppressed a particular plaintiff’s speech on that topic.”
Kennedy is knee-deep in the potential lawsuit as he was part of the “Disinformation Dozen” specifically targeted by the government over alleged COVID-19 misinformation, Doughty noted.
He wrote there is “not much dispute” that Kennedy, along with the organization he leads, Children’s Health Defense, “were specifically targeted by the White House, the Office of Surgeon General, and CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency].”
“The Court finds that there is further risk for future risk injury here because Kennedy is a 2024 presidential candidate,” Doughty wrote. “For example, if, hypothetically, the FBI saw a piece of information related to the 2024 presidential election posted by the Kennedy campaign on social media that it deemed to be ‘misinformation,’ then it reached out to CISA, who worked closely with the EIP, who then removed the posts, Kennedy would be censored by the action of one Government Defendant in response to another.”
“It is gratifying that Judge Doughty found RFK, Jr. and Children’s Health Defense have standing, even under the draconian requirements the Supreme Court developed in Murthy,” New Civil Liberties Alliance litigation counsel Jenin Younes told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “We are assessing next steps for the Murthy plaintiffs in light of Judge Doughty’s opinion, which will also assist us in crafting discovery requests to ensure we can demonstrate standing going forward.”
The Kennedy campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller, and it’s not known whether or not he will pursue legal action — but the ruling means it’s not off the table.
As for Kennedy’s presidential campaign?
Kennedy is set to make a major campaign announcement in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday afternoon, just hours before Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is set to appear nearby at a campaign rally.
It has led to unverified reports that RFK, Jr. is going to drop out and join Trump’s campaign.
Kennedy’s own running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said that RFK, Jr. and her were prepared to do just that earlier this week.
Shannon said during an interview released Tuesday with the Impact Theory podcast they were prepared to join Trump’s campaign in an effort to stop Vice President Kamala Harris.
She accused Democrats of “sabotage” against their campaign, and said “there’s only one party that has obstructed a fair election for us, and unfortunately, it was the Democratic Party.”
“There’s two options that we’re looking at,” Shanahan said during the interview. “One is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov. Tim] Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump.”
“Or, we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump,” she continued. “We walk away from that and we explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”
This is an on-going story. Stay tuned for further developments.