Senator Schmitt Sends Letter Demanding Compliance with Court Order, Record of Correspondence between Biden Administration Officials and Big Tech Companies

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Eric Schmitt sent a letter to the defendants of the Missouri v. Biden case, specifically: President Joe Biden, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Attorney General Merrick Garland, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and leaders of the FBI demanding compliance with the Court’s ruling in Missouri v. Biden and any and all correspondence with social media companies aimed at censoring American’s freedom of speech online:

“Accountability is coming for those in the Biden Administration who sought to censor viewpoints they disagreed with or disliked online. When I was Missouri’s Attorney General, I filed Missouri v. Biden, and now as a United States Senator, I will continue to stand up for the First Amendment and work to end the Biden Administration’s vast censorship enterprise once and for all. We will not allow these federal agencies to continue to outsource their censorship to social media companies. Enough is enough,” said Senator Eric Schmitt. 

The letter reads, “Our nation fundamentally relies on the marketplace of ideas, where each citizen is able to express his or her beliefs freely—and where each citizen must actively defend the veracity of his or her position. Censorship of speech by the federal government threatens the First Amendment and our core principles.” Further, “In short, you and your office may not take any action to urge, encourage, pressure, or induce Big Tech companies to remove or delete social media content protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The letter demands that each of those agencies, in part:

• Provide all steps that your Office is currently taking in order to comply with this preliminary injunction.
• Provide all communications between your Office and Big Tech companies for the last year that would have potentially censored protected speech.
• Provide a list of all non-governmental entities that your Office has partnered with to censor protected speech.

Background:

• Recently, a federal court entered a preliminary injunction in Missouri v. Biden, enjoining a variety of federal government agencies from colluding with social media companies to censor speech.
• Senator Schmitt filed Missouri v. Biden in 2022 when he was serving as Missouri’s Attorney General, alleging a “vast censorship enterprise” between the federal government and social media companies to censor speech online. 
• The Biden Administration filed a motion to prevent the injunction from taking effect, which was swiftly struck down by the federal district court.
• Senator Schmitt has a staunch record of legislation defending American’s Freedom of Speech and shrinking the power of the administrative state, which includes:
  • Introducing the ERASER Act and the COLLUDE Act. 
  • Cosponsoring Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) Guidance Out Of Darkness (GOOD) Act, Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) Public Service Reform Act, and Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. 
• Read the letters here.