By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via PinalCentral
A congressional attorney is asking a federal judge here to toss out a lawsuit demanding that Rep. Paul Gosar be barred from blocking them — or anyone — from his Facebook page.
Thomas Hungar, the general counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, contends that the two people who filed suit have no legal standing.
Hungar did not dispute that the Republican congressman previously blocked them from commenting on his Facebook page. But the attorney said Gosar now follows a new policy about his page that is “more protective of First Amendment rights.’’
More to the point, Hungar said neither J’aime Morgaine of Kingman nor Paul Hamilton of Prescott is currently blocked, though both were before. Nor, he said, is anyone else at this point.
And that, he told U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell, means they are not suffering any harm that gives him the right to tell Gosar what he has to do with his Facebook page.
What Campbell rules could set precedent for the ability of other members of Congress of both parties to impose controls on their social media sites.
