No. 22-393

NetChoice, LLC, dba NetChoice, et al. v. Ashley Moody, Attorney General of Florida, et al.

Lower Court: Eleventh Circuit
Docketed: 2022-10-26
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
CVSGAmici (6)Relisted (3) Experienced Counsel
Tags: compelled-speech content-based content-based-restrictions editorial-discretion first-amendment free-speech tech-regulation viewpoint-discrimination zauderer
Key Terms:
FirstAmendment JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2023-09-26 (distributed 3 times)
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether S.B. 7072 in its entirety, and its compelled disclosure provisions in particular, comply with the First Amendment

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED Florida’s Senate Bill 7072 imposes unprecedented restrictions on the rights of private Internet companies to exercise editorial judgment over the content on their services. Responding to an alleged conspiracy by “big tech’ oligarchs in Silicon Valley” to silence “conservative” content, S.B. 7072 singles out a select group of private companies and saddles them— and only them—with a slew of content-based and discriminatory requirements. The law openly abridges the targeted companies’ First Amendment right to exercise editorial judgment over what content to disseminate on their websites via requirements that are speaker-based, content-based, and Those mandates are designed to work hand-in-glove with burdensome disclosure obligations that compel speech, interfere with editorial discretion, and facilitate enforcement of the substantive mandates by, for example, requiring companies to disclose their policies and explain their decisions. In a detailed opinion that explained the laws many flaws, the Eleventh Circuit unanimously concluded that most of S.B. 7072 cannot be reconciled with the First Amendment. But it then left a subset of the law’s compelled disclosure provisions standing, based on a cursory analysis that side-stepped the law’s pervasive while overextending and misapplying Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel of Supreme Court of Ohio, 471 U.S. 626 (1985). The question presented is: Whether S.B. 7072 in its entirety, and its compelled disclosure provisions in particular, comply with the First Amendment.

Docket Entries

2023-10-02
Petition DENIED.
2023-08-30
Supplemental brief of petitioners NetChoice, LLC, et al. filed. (Distributed)
2023-08-30
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/26/2023.
2023-01-23
The Solicitor General is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States.
2023-01-04
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/20/2023.
2022-12-29
Rescheduled.
2022-12-07
2022-12-07
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/6/2023.
2022-11-25
Brief amicus curiae of Floor64, Inc. D/B/A The Copia Institute filed.
2022-11-23
Brief of respondents Ashley Moody, Attorney General of Florida, et al. in opposition filed.
2022-11-23
Brief amicus curiae of Former U.S. Representative Christopher Cox, Co-Author of Section 230 filed.
2022-11-23
2022-11-23
2022-11-22
2022-11-08
Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, NetChoice, LLC, et al.
2022-11-03
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, FL Att'y Gen., et al.
2022-10-27
2022-10-24
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 25, 2022)

Attorneys

Ashley Moody, Attorney General of Florida, et al.
Henry Charles WhitakerFlorida Office of the Attorney General, Respondent
Cato Institute
Clark M. Neily IIICato Institute, Amicus
Chamber of Progress; Consumer Technology Association; Engine Advocacy; Global Project Against Hate and Extremism; HONR Network; Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Interactive Advertising Bureau; IP Justice; LGBT Tech; Multicultural Media, Tel
Paul Whitfield HughesMcDermott Will & Emery, Amicus
Floor64, Inc. D/B/A The Copia Institute
Catherine Rachel GellisAttorney at Law, Amicus
Former U.S. Representative Christopher Cox, Co-Author of Section 230
John Cowles Neiman Jr.Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., Amicus
NetChoice, LLC, et al.
Paul D. ClementClement & Murphy, PLLC, Petitioner
Prof. Eric Goldman
Venkat BalasubramaniFocal PLLC, Amicus
TechFreedom, National Taxpayers Union, Washington Legal Foundation
Corbin Knight BartholdTechFreedom, Amicus
United States
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Amicus