Big Tech is Making a Desperate Bid to Avoid Judicial Scrutiny | Opinion

Last year, Texas passed HB 20, a law that prohibits major internet platforms from discriminating against users on the basis of their viewpoints or beliefs. The law proceeds from a centuries-old legal tradition holding that some businesses such as phone companies, airlines, restaurants, schools and hotels must serve all people without discrimination.

Claiming that it has a First Amendment right to discriminate against users whose views it finds objectionable, Big Tech challenged HB 20 through its trade group NetChoice, which represents the interests of companies ranging from Google to the Chinese state-affiliated platform TikTok. It secured an injunction from an Obama-appointed district court judge in December. But last Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted a stay on the law, allowing it to go into effect while the court decided the merits of the legal challenge.

Rather than allow the judicial system to work itself out, however, NetChoice made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate the stay. It’s relying on the Court’s so-called shadow docket a venue normally reserved for high-stakes appeals like execution stays, not the subtle First Amendment questions at play in this case. The state of Texas has less than a week to respond to NetChoice’s application.

via www.newsweek.com