--- title: Donald Trump: Blocked Twitter Users File Lawsuit description: President Donald Trump has blocked users on Twitter from seeing his feed. Now, they are retaliating by suing him in court canonical: https://time.com/4853515/donald-trump-twitter-blockers-lawsuit/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-11T18:41:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:13.077Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Blocked These People on Twitter. Now They're Suing Him og:description: "This practice is unconstitutional and this suit seeks to send it" og:url: https://time.com/4853515/donald-trump-twitter-blockers-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf062c2e2faf0cda2/6988d4a0656a3f36a8bd0b64/170706_donald-trump-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: 170706_Donald Trump airplane og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Blocked These People on Twitter. Now They're Suing Him twitter:description: "This practice is unconstitutional and this suit seeks to send it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf062c2e2faf0cda2/6988d4a0656a3f36a8bd0b64/170706_donald-trump-airplane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Blocked These People on Twitter. Now They're Suing Him > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: President Trump Just Tweeted a Video of Him Punching CNN in the Face [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Just Tweeted a Video of Him Punching CNN in the Face](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/oFj4GzcW.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2017-07-02. President Donald Trump posted a video to Twitter on Sunday that depicts him punching a physical representation of CNN in the face, the latest escalation in his ongoing war against the news media and one that raised the specter of actual violence_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 11, 2017 6:41 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on July 3, 2017. US President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on July 3, 2017. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 11, 2017 6:41 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4853057/donald-trump-jr-twitter-emails/) has blocked users on Twitter from seeing his feed, oftentimes because they disagreed with him. Now, those users are suing him. In a [lawsuit filed Tuesday](https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3892179/2017-07-11-Knight-Institute-Trump-Twitter.pdf) in the Southern District Court of New York, the Knight First Amendment Institute, along with seven additional plaintiffs who claim they have been blocked from seeing the feed because they have expressed comments opposing the President, filed a case against Trump. White House Secretary Sean Spicer, and[ Dan Scavino](http://time.com/donald-trump-after-hours/), the White House Director of Social Media, were also named as defendants. The suit claims that blocking Twitter users from a President’s twitter feed is unconstitutional because it is withholding access to important news about the U.S. government, and demands that the plaintiffs’ access be restored to the feed. The Twitter account of the Knight First Amendment Institute has not been blocked, according to the lawsuit, but representatives from the organization are arguing their First Amendment rights are restricted as well because they can’t see or read what the plaintiffs would have said if they hadn’t been blocked. “Because of the way the President and his aides use the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, the account is a public forum under the First Amendment,” the lawsuit argues, explaining that the plaintiffs who cannot view the feed are having their first amendment rights violated. “It imposes an unconstitutional restriction on their participation in a designated public forum. It imposes an unconstitutional restriction on their right to access statements that Defendants are otherwise making available to the public at large,” the lawsuit states. Spicer has previously said that [tweets from Trump’s Twitter feed can be deemed official statements](http://time.com/4808270/sean-spicer-donald-trump-twitter-statements/) from the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to request for comment. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4853515/donald-trump-twitter-blockers-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4853515/donald-trump-twitter-blockers-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Blocked These People on Twitter. 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