Trump is requesting the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the decision of a District Court that dismissed the lawsuit against Twitter and remand the case for further proceedings, the filing said on Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that Twitter, under the influence of the US government, violated Trump’s right to freedom of speech by suspending his account following the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
"This case presents the most important free speech issue of our day: Can government officials use the power of their office to suppress speech they disagree with by threatening, demanding, and colluding with social media platforms to remove ideas from the public square?" the filing said. "Because they know that the government itself may not engage in such viewpoint discrimination, these officials accomplish by indirection what the Constitution precludes them from doing directly."
The lawsuit argues that social media companies suppressed important stories under influence by the US government, including about Hunter Biden’s laptop, various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to address it and the alleged election and voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election.
The new filing requests the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review the District Court’s earlier decision to dismiss the case, as well as to rule on the alleged violation of free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Since Trump’s removal from Twitter, the company was purchased by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk who has vowed to protect freedom of speech on the social media platform. However, Trump has yet to confirm an attempted return to the platform, instead favoring his own social media site "Truth Social."