This week, the Court addresses when and how a government
official's communications to a private party regarding its
distribution of books allegedly promoting misinformation can
violate the First Amendment.
The Court holds that Senator Elizabeth Warren's letter
advocating for a retailer to direct consumers away from
Plaintiffs' book was more persuasive than coercive, and thus
likely did not violate the First Amendment.
The panel: Judges Watford, Friedland, and
Bennett, with Judge Watford writing the opinion and Judge Bennett
writing a concurrence.
Key highlight: "[R]eferencing potential
legal liability does not morph an effort to persuade into an
attempt to coerce... The relevant question remains whether
the communication can reasonably be construed as coercive, and not
every official's legal opinion reasonably resembles a threat...
For example, it would not be coercive for a government official to
point out that a company's conduct
