Profile picture
, 3 tweets, 2 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
Trump’s monstrous abuse of the tragic death of Lori Klausutis to injure @JoeNBC treated Lori and her family as means to his small-minded end of retaliating against Joe’s criticisms. But suing Trump for damages as this piece suggests wouldn’t help:

nytimes.com/2020/05/28/opi…
There’s a mismatch between what makes Trump’s cruel treatment of Lori and her family so awful and the legal remedies available:

1. Trump’s intent was to hurt @JoeNBC, not to cause distress to Lori’s family;

2. @JoeNBC’s reputation couldn’t be injured by so unbelievable a claim
3. Those facts would make an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim by Lori’s family very weak.

4. The facts would also make a defamation claim by @JoeNBC extremely uphill,

5. Suing & losing wd create the illusion of Trump’s vindication.

6. But he’s guilty as hell.
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Keep Current with Laurence Tribe

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @tribelaw see all

Profile picture
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
There are millions of eye witnesses to the heartless murder of George Floyd in Minnesota. You don’t need proof beyond a reasonable doubt to arrest and prosecute the officer we all saw with his knee on the immobilized victim’s neck as he repeatedly cried out “I can’t breathe”
and called for his mother. What in the name of God are the local authorities waiting for? They’ve arrested CNN crews just doing their jobs as reporters but are still pondering whether to arrest the cold-blooded killer. Even the officers who stood by and didn’t lift a finger
to assist the victim or restrain the killer may well merit prosecution as accomplices. Details I don’t have would determine whether they’re criminals under Minnesota law. But at the very least there’s probable cause to arrest and detain them. Firing the entire group isn’t enough
Read 5 tweets
Profile picture
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
If Trump’s May 28 executive order were to end up restricting the ability of private social media platforms like Twitter to tag tweets like his as misleading, it would violate not just the Communications Decency Act (CDA) but the First Amendment. See this thread for my analysis:
Nothing the president or agencies like the FCC and FTC can legally do could successfully censor such private Internet comment, so the executive order (EO) that Trump has unfurled is a big nothingburger in terms of responding to what Twitter did to provoke Trump’s outrage.
No conduct by Twitter, Facebook, or other social media platforms that this EO could possibly make actionable would’ve been immunized by Sec. 230 of the CDA anyway. But the EO isn’t therefore rendered harmless.
Read 5 tweets
Profile picture
Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
In Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held in 2019 that the president cannot use a private platform like Twitter “for all manner of official purposes” while “exclud[ing] persons from an otherwise‐open online dialogue (continued below)
because they express[] views with which [he] disagrees.” That holding makes Trump’s claim that Twitter’s fact-checking and tagging his tweets violates HIS First Amendment rights all the more ludicrous. Another case of projection:
Trump always accuses his critics and opponents of violating the very rules and norms that he himself violates. It’s a psychological quirk that worked to get him all the way to the White House, but I believe it has at long last run its course.
Read 3 tweets

Embed code for your website

×
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!