In a new legal brief Monday requesting that an appeals court resuscitate Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter over his permanent suspension, the former U.S. president was compared to renowned astronomer Galileo. The mention is a notable name in the 96-page filing submitted to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court, in which Trump’s lawyers argue that “Galileo spent his remaining days under house arrest for spreading heretical ideas.” Asking for compensatory and punitive damages, along with a court order that would “immediately reinstate” his account, Trump’s lawsuit described his Jan 8, 2021, suspension as “overtly partisan censorship” that was “contrary to First Amendment principles deeply rooted in American history and law.” Trump’s lawyers say: “This case presents the most important Free Speech issue of our day.” The brief claim government officials use “the power of their office to suppress speech they disagree with by threatening, demanding, and colluding with social media platforms to remove ideas from the public square.” Those ideas included misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election. Trump was already denied in May by San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge James Donato. Trump has promised to keep posting on his social platform, Truth Social, even if reinstated to Twitter.
