This is Missouri v. Biden, the case about how the federal government pressured social media platforms to shut down discussions about things Joe Biden and his handlers didn’t like, such as the Hunter Biden laptop story and the challenges to various government-approved lies about COVID masks and vaccines.
We’ve covered this case through several posts as it’s wound its way toward a conclusion, and the most recent big development was that Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District of Louisiana issued an injunction against the Biden administration making any more censorship demands against social media platforms, something which caused a national uproar.
The administration said they’d appeal the injunction. That put them into the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, which is not a particularly friendly venue for them.
And they drew a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit. What they got was not awesome for them…
The three-judge panel that will hear the Biden administration appeal includes Edith Brown Clement, a George H.W. Bush nominee, Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush nominee, and Don Willett, a Donald Trump nominee.
Don Willett, especially, is unlikely to be very friendly to the Biden administration. He’s just about the most outspoken conservative judge in America, and there was a time when Willett’s Twitter held some of the most brutal fusillades against the Obama administration, which let’s face it Team Biden is an extension of, anywhere on the internet.
The Left hates Don Willett with a passion. For example, when he was up for confirmation at the Fifth Circuit back in 2017, something called The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which is one of these bog-standard leftist groups touting intersectional victimhood for everybody who might vote Democrat, had this to say about him…
Don Willett, a justice on the Texas Supreme Court since 2005, has advanced a right-wing agenda throughout his career, both on and off the bench. Justice Willett’s record of extreme legal views earned him a place on then-candidate Trump’s list of 21 potential Supreme Court nominees assembled last year by the far-right Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation. Justice Willett lacks the impartiality and temperament necessary to serve as a federal judge, a lifetime appointment.
That link is well worth checking out, as if you’re not a flaming leftist it’ll probably make you fall in love with Willett – and look forward to reading his opinion if and when the Fifth Circuit issues a ruling on Doughty’s indictment.
But Willett isn’t the only problem for Team Biden on that panel. Edith Brown Clement is a no-nonsense c0nservative as well who decidedly lacks fear. Back in 2019, a black federal judge in Mississippi drew up a new map for the state’s Senate districts, and that map was pretty questionable in terms of being obviously drawn to favor a black Democrat candidate in particular. Clement was on a Fifth Circuit three-judge panel which included two black Democrat judges, who rubber-stamped the district judge’s map, and she lit them up in a fiery dissent which contained one of those statements which are both completely true and utterly shocking to hear…
“I am afraid defendants have simply had the poor luck of drawing a majority-minority panel,” Clement had written. The two judges in the 5th Circuit majority were Democratic appointees; a majority of the 5th Circuit consists of Republican appointees.
Edith Brown Clement does not care, and it’s relatively fair to imagine that she won’t be predisposed to facilitate censorship of social media by the Biden administration.
And by the way, it doesn’t get any better for them with Jennifer Walker Elrod. We could go through a number of things about her, but here’s a pretty good indication of what they’re up against. From an outraged liberal who was displeased with Elrod’s opinion on a Fifth Circuit case that slapped down an overreaching Securities and Exchange Commission last year…
Jennifer Walker Elrod’s majority opinion approvingly cites Ronald Reagan’s “Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language” (I’m from the government, and I’m here to help).
Jennifer Walker Elrod's majority opinion approvingly cites Ronald Reagan's "Nine Most Terrifying Words in the English Language" (I'm from the government, and I'm here to help).
I ask again: What is going on in the 5th Circuit?!
Of course, this isn’t the final say a court will have on Doughty’s injunction, even though we can predict how it’ll go in front of Willett, Clement and Elrod. Team Biden can demand that the Fifth hear the case en banc, meaning that all of the judges on the circuit would hear it, but there’s a pretty good majority of conservatives on the whole circuit, so it’s likely whatever this panel hands down will remain in force.
Then it’s off to the Supreme Court, and we’re going to guess that’ll be a 6-3 decision to uphold the injunction.
The smart play here would be to stop trying to infringe on the First Amendment and let people say what they’re going to say. But Team Biden doesn’t do a lot of smart things. They also don’t tend to follow the law very much, so we’ll see if they even bother to heed the pronouncements of judges with whom they disagree.
