ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 considers the importance of the First Amendment (i.e. the public’s freedom of expression) to the democratic rule of law and whether suppression by a U.S. government official, such as the President, of oppositional speech is itself government speech shielded from challenge under the First Amendment. Also considered is what constitutes State action in the suppression of the speech of private individuals particularly in terms of the blocking of their participation on a specific social media account being used by government to communicate official statements about the governance decisions and policy of the current administration.
