In May 2022, Eric Schmitt, the attorney general of Missouri, and Jeff Landry, the attorney general of Louisiana, sued the Biden administration, claiming that the White House was suppressing certain types of content on social media. Among the individuals targeted were Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president, and the masks and lockdowns that were issued.
The case argued that since the Supreme Court ruled in the Harrison v. Norwood case, private companies cannot be used by the government to carry out certain actions.
The states of Louisiana and Missouri claimed that the Biden administration was suppressing free speech regarding the coronavirus pandemic by coordinating with tech companies. As a result, Big Tech became a part of the government and had to abide by the First Amendment.
The case was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, which was assigned to Judge Terry Doughty, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. The two attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri have been pursuing both the Big Tech companies and the White House in an attempt to get a preliminary injunction.
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s retirement will not stop a “full-throated investigation” into the origins of the Chinese coronavirus, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned. https://t.co/kvRWtMPiIj
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 22, 2022
On October 21, Judge Michael Doughty granted the request for discovery, which allowed the states to ask Fauci and other officials, including Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary, to appear before him for up to seven hours. They were asked to explain their interactions with Twitter and Facebook regarding the coronavirus pandemic.