This week, the Court wrestles with a thorny First Amendment
question that has divided other Courts of Appeals and considers
district courts' ability to impose sanctions under Rule
37(c)(1).
GARNIER v.
O'CONNOR-RATCLIFF
The Court holds that two local officials' blocking of
particular constituents' comments on the officials' social
media pages violated the First Amendment.
The panel: Judges Berzon, Tallman, and
Friedland, with Judge Berzon writing the opinion.
Key highlight: "As this case demonstrates,
analogies between physical public fora and the virtual public fora
of the present are sometimes imperfect, and courts applying First
Amendment protections to virtual spaces must be mindful of the
nuances of how those online fora function in practice. Whatever
those nuances, we have little doubt that social media will continue
to play an essential role in hosting public debate and facilitating
the free expression that lies at the heart of the First
