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Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s effort to deny visas to individuals it claims worked to perpetuate censorship against Americans.
Boasberg handed down a decision earlier this month blocking the State Department from restricting visas for foreign officials and other foreign nationals considered responsible for or complicit in suppressing American free speech. He found that, while the federal government has a “legitimate interest in responding when foreign officials use sovereign power to suppress protected expression in the United States,” it is possible that the government is engaging in viewpoint discrimination, and thus violating the First Amendment, through its policy.
“The policy, at its core, does not burden all speech about platforms, all research into content moderation, or all advocacy about online harms,” Boasberg wrote. “It presses its enforcement thumb against one side of the scale: the view that platforms should do more to moderate content, label disinformation, restrict abuse, share data with researchers, or take responsibility for the harms their systems amplify.”
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“The Government, in other words, has not set itself against everyone who speaks about platform governance. It has set itself against those whose work favors more moderation rather than less,” he added.
The State Department’s policy followed a Biden-era controversy where the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which produced alleged “blacklists” of certain news websites, received funding from the federal government. Conservatives have argued that GDI’s ratings contributed to advertisers withholding revenue from conservative outlets and that federal support for the organization implicated free-speech concerns.
The State Department’s policy paused by Boasberg restricted visa access to individuals involved with GDI and similar organizations.
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Boasberg has presided over several high-profile cases challenging actions by President Donald Trump’s second administration. He temporarily blocked the administration’s rapid deportation of Venezuelan migrants and ordered officials to preserve Signal messages in which senior national security officials discussed planned U.S. strikes in Yemen.
The clashes have made Boasberg a target of Trump, who called for his impeachment.
The Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against him and accused him of overreach. Chief Justice John Roberts rejected impeachment as a response to an unfavorable ruling.
Boasberg was first nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2010.
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“A visa is a privilege—not a constitutional entitlement,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote of the decision on X. “The First Amendment protects the American people’s right to speak. It does not require the American people to admit foreign actors who work to restrict that speech.”
The case against the State Department’s policy was initially brought by the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR), a nonprofit organization representing academics and journalists.
While Boasberg issued a stay temporarily preventing the State Department from enforcing its visa policy, he has not yet ruled on the merits of the case, meaning that the policy could still survive his court. Additionally, the State Department could still seek appellate review of his interim order blocking their policy.
CITR and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment after being reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday.
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