Alito Extends Administrative Stay of WH Social Media Injunction to Oct. 20

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito extended by a week, to Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. EDT, the administrative stay of the injunction that bars dozens of Biden administration officials from coercing or significantly encouraging the social media platforms to moderate their content, said Alito’s text-only order Friday afternoon (docket 23A243).

The government’s emergency application asks SCOTUS to fully stay the injunction pending the disposition of its forthcoming cert petition to vacate the injunction entirely. The Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, plus the five individual social media user plaintiffs oppose the application. The injunction covers officials from the White House, the surgeon general’s office, the FBI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals originally vacated CISA officials from the scope of the injunction for lack of evidence that they coerced the social media platforms, then reinstated them on the GOP AGs’ petition for rehearing. Without Alito’s extension, the administrative stay that the 5th Circuit imposed Oct. 3 would have expired sometime late Friday. Alito is SCOTUS circuit judge for the 5th Circuit.