SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman declared in an email to supporters. (Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
'Blatant Violation of the First Amendment': Public Citizen Sues Betsy DeVos for Censoring Its Website
"We've been highly critical of Betsy DeVos for putting students at the mercy of predatory for-profit colleges. We won't let her silence us."
Apr 09, 2019
Public Citizen sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday for allegedly blocking access to the consumer group's website on her department's guest Wi-Fi and internal networks.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views."
--Robert Weissman, Public Citizen
"This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman wrote in an email to supporters. "Users attempting to access Public Citizen's website though the department's guest wireless networks receive a message that access is 'in violation of your internet usage policy.' We requested the department's policy for blocking access to internet sites, but it hasn't responded to our request."
"What we do know," Weissman continued, "is that our website contains lots of information critical of DeVos and the department."
\u201cBREAKING: We just sued the Department of Education for blocking our website on their networks \u2014 a blatant violation of the First Amendment.\n\nWe\u2019ve been highly critical of Betsy Devos for putting students at the mercy of predatory for-profit colleges. We won't let her silence us.\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1554838717
Public Citizen filed its complaint (pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of David Halperin, a Public Citizen board member who frequently attends meetings at the Department of Education and uses its Wi-Fi network.
The organization's filing alleges that the Department of Education is violating both the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act by blocking access to its website.
"The department and DeVos have no legitimate justification for blocking access to Public Citizen's website," the group said in a press release. "Public Citizen's website includes material on a wide range of issues, including information critical of the department and DeVos... Public Citizen also uses its website to inform the public about litigation, including litigation involving DeVos and the department."
Public Citizen is seeking "a court order declaring the department's and DeVos's action unlawful and enjoining them from blocking access" to its site.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views," Weissman said.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Public Citizen sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday for allegedly blocking access to the consumer group's website on her department's guest Wi-Fi and internal networks.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views."
--Robert Weissman, Public Citizen
"This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman wrote in an email to supporters. "Users attempting to access Public Citizen's website though the department's guest wireless networks receive a message that access is 'in violation of your internet usage policy.' We requested the department's policy for blocking access to internet sites, but it hasn't responded to our request."
"What we do know," Weissman continued, "is that our website contains lots of information critical of DeVos and the department."
\u201cBREAKING: We just sued the Department of Education for blocking our website on their networks \u2014 a blatant violation of the First Amendment.\n\nWe\u2019ve been highly critical of Betsy Devos for putting students at the mercy of predatory for-profit colleges. We won't let her silence us.\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1554838717
Public Citizen filed its complaint (pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of David Halperin, a Public Citizen board member who frequently attends meetings at the Department of Education and uses its Wi-Fi network.
The organization's filing alleges that the Department of Education is violating both the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act by blocking access to its website.
"The department and DeVos have no legitimate justification for blocking access to Public Citizen's website," the group said in a press release. "Public Citizen's website includes material on a wide range of issues, including information critical of the department and DeVos... Public Citizen also uses its website to inform the public about litigation, including litigation involving DeVos and the department."
Public Citizen is seeking "a court order declaring the department's and DeVos's action unlawful and enjoining them from blocking access" to its site.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views," Weissman said.
Public Citizen sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday for allegedly blocking access to the consumer group's website on her department's guest Wi-Fi and internal networks.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views."
--Robert Weissman, Public Citizen
"This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment," Public Citizen president Robert Weissman wrote in an email to supporters. "Users attempting to access Public Citizen's website though the department's guest wireless networks receive a message that access is 'in violation of your internet usage policy.' We requested the department's policy for blocking access to internet sites, but it hasn't responded to our request."
"What we do know," Weissman continued, "is that our website contains lots of information critical of DeVos and the department."
\u201cBREAKING: We just sued the Department of Education for blocking our website on their networks \u2014 a blatant violation of the First Amendment.\n\nWe\u2019ve been highly critical of Betsy Devos for putting students at the mercy of predatory for-profit colleges. We won't let her silence us.\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1554838717
Public Citizen filed its complaint (pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of David Halperin, a Public Citizen board member who frequently attends meetings at the Department of Education and uses its Wi-Fi network.
The organization's filing alleges that the Department of Education is violating both the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act by blocking access to its website.
"The department and DeVos have no legitimate justification for blocking access to Public Citizen's website," the group said in a press release. "Public Citizen's website includes material on a wide range of issues, including information critical of the department and DeVos... Public Citizen also uses its website to inform the public about litigation, including litigation involving DeVos and the department."
Public Citizen is seeking "a court order declaring the department's and DeVos's action unlawful and enjoining them from blocking access" to its site.
"No way are we going to let them get away with suppressing our views," Weissman said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.