Washington, D.C., March 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance, on behalf of its clients Jill Hines and Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, has reached a settlement agreement and Consent Decree concluding the landmark Missouri v. Biden lawsuit against government-induced social media censorship. This is the same case that previously went to the U.S. Supreme Court as Murthy v. Missouri when the Biden Administration appealed a Preliminary Injunction that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit awarded NCLA’s clients. The Consent Decree awaits final court approval by Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, along with the attorneys’ fees.
The unprecedented settlement prohibits the U.S. Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) from threatening social media companies into removing or suppressing constitutionally protected speech on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube. It also bars these government authorities from directing or vetoing the companies’ social media content moderation choices. Representing individual plaintiffs in this lawsuit who were censored on social media as part of the Biden Administration’s “whole of government” effort to oppose speech it disliked, NCLA celebrates this milestone victory for First Amendment free speech rights.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court vacated the Preliminary Injunction in this case that barred many government officials from coercing and significantly encouraging social media platforms to censor constitutionally protected speech. The Supreme Court wrongly held that Ms. Hines and Dr. Kheriaty—as well as then-NCLA clients Drs. Jayanta Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff who had to withdraw from this case upon joining the Trump Administration—lacked standing to support a preliminary injunction. However, NCLA returned to district court and continued fighting efforts to dismiss the case after the Supreme Court’s ruling. Discovery in this case uncovered a vast operation emanating from the highest levels of government. NCLA revealed how agencies and the White House directed social media companies to censor viewpoints that conflicted with federal government messaging on topics ranging from Covid-19 to elections. These egregious First Amendment violations silenced NCLA’s clients and many other Americans.
The Trump Administration condemned this censorship scheme in an Executive Order on President Trump’s first day back in office last year. He noted that the “government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.” In today’s settlement, the Trump Administration agrees that government, politicians, media, academics, or anyone else labeling speech “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation” does not make it constitutionally unprotected. People are bound to make false statements now and then when they speak their minds, a freedom the First Amendment guarantees. This settlement helps safeguard that marketplace of ideas from the federal government. NCLA’s clients, Jill Hines and Aaron Kheriaty, are granted the right to enforce the Consent Decree should the government violate it.
NCLA’s censorship lawsuits against (1) the U.S. State Department on behalf of The Federalist and The Daily Wire, and against (2) Rob Flaherty et al. on behalf of Bri Dressen et al. for Facebook censorship against vaccine-injured Americans both continue.
NCLA released the following statements:
“This case began with a suspicion, that blossomed into fact, that led to Congressional hearings and an Executive Order that government censorship of Americans’ social media posts should end. Freedom of speech has been powerfully preserved by our clients, past and present, who initiated this suit.”
— John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA
“The United States government cannot abridge speech directly, nor by inducing intermediaries to do so at its bidding. As recognized by last year’s Executive Order, that is exactly what happened, sometimes driven by a prior administration, sometimes driven by bureaucrats, but always unlawful.”
— Zhonette Brown, General Counsel and Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA
“Our clients joined this case to ensure there would be standing to oppose the federal government’s blatant censorship. NCLA is thrilled to vindicate Jill Hines, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, and our former clients now in government service. Federal officials may police the line between lawful and unlawful speech, but they have no role in deciding if speech is true or false—even so-called misinformation, disinformation, or malinformation.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President, NCLA
“The federal government’s social media censorship was the most massive suppression of speech in the nation’s history, it was profoundly important to resist it.”
— Philip Hamburger, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NCLA
For more information visit the case page here.
ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.
Joe Martyak New Civil Liberties Alliance 703-403-1111 joe.martyak@ncla.legal
