Justice Department officials and the White House complained that Doughty’s broadly worded injunction prohibiting various officials and agencies from discouraging social media firms from hosting First Amendment-protected content was difficult to implement and could cause cautious federal officials to refuse to deal with companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google.
Doughty’s order included exceptions for various categories of content including criminal activity, signs of malicious cyber activity and threats to public safety or security, but DOJ lawyers said those categories were ill-defined.
The stay — while temporary — underscores that Doughty’s ruling is unlikely to be the last word on an issue that has animated the political right. Conservatives in the House grilled FBI Director Chris Wray about the ruling during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
In addition, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has set a hearing for Thursday to discuss the lawsuit that led to Doughty’s order. Among the scheduled witnesses is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longshot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The appeals court’s order did not explain the rationale for granting what the court called a “temporary administrative stay” of Doughty’s injunction. The order Friday was issued by Judge Carl Stewart, an appointee of President Bill Clinton; Judge James Graves, an appointee of President Barack Obama; and Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of President Donald Trump.
Doughty, based in Monroe, La., is also a Trump appointee.