Authoritarian means doing whatever you want

Unfuckingbelievable.  By the way, Daniel Dale, who covers Washington for the Toronto Star, is blocked.

The Justice Department and a group of Twitter users faced off Tuesday in the appeal of a case over whether President Donald Trump's blocking of certain accounts violates the First Amendment.

Before a three-judge panel in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department argued that Trump wasn't "wielding the power" of the federal government when he blocked certain individuals from his personal Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, because while the President sends tweets in his official capacity, he blocks users as a personal matter.

[...]

Though conceding that Trump had launched the account before he took office, the attorney [for the Knight First Amendment Institute], Jameel Jaffer, said Trump "began using it as President as an extension of his office."

[...]

If Trump blocked people in his personal capacity, "it is curious to me that the Justice Department is here representing him," Judge Peter Hall said in response to the government's attorney, Jennifer Utrecht.

[...]

Utrecht said the department was representing the President because Trump had been sued in his official capacity.

[...]

Judge Christopher Droney listed recent tweets by the President, including one that revoked sanctions on North Korea, another concerning the Golan Heights territory and a third on the Federal Reserve Board.

"Those aren't official actions?" the judge asked.

Utrecht said they were, but later said: "The President, when he blocks individuals from his personal Twitter account ... is doing so in his personal capacity."

[...]

"The whole point of Twitter is to facilitate interaction among users," [Jaffer] said. "If the government had wanted one-way action, it could have used a blog" or another platform for Trump's comments.

[...]

Last year, a New York federal judge ruled that Trump had violated the Constitution when he blocked Twitter users.

[...]

"We hold that portions of the @realDonaldTrump account -- the 'interactive space' where Twitter users may directly engage with the content of the President's tweets -- are properly analyzed under the 'public forum' doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court, that such space is a designated public forum, and that the blocking of the plaintiffs based on their political speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment," Buchwald wrote.

  CNN

Surely the Manhattan panel will rule against him blocking people. What an inane and unreasonable stance: he tweets in his public capacity and blocks in his personal capacity. What genius came up with that?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.