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LEARN MOREPosted: 9:37 a.m. EDT Jul 31, 2017
A district court ruling in Virginia might have an impact on a pending lawsuit against President Donald Trump.
A judge ruled an elected official cannot block constituents from her Facebook page and that doing so violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
Trump is being sued by a group of Twitter users who've been blocked from his @realDonaldTrump account.
The group argues that account is a public forum and it's therefore unconstitutional for the president to block anyone from accessing his tweets.
And the plaintiffs allege their First Amendment right to free speech is being infringed upon because they can no longer view and reply to Trump's tweets. Sounds familiar, right?
Trump's legal team could argue his @realDonaldTrump account is a personal one, so it doesn't need to be treated as a public forum.
Unlike the elected official in Virginia, Trump set up that account long before he became president.
But Trump does use his personal Twitter account to make official statements, such as his recent announcement about wanting to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military.
The plaintiffs in the Trump case are asking to be unblocked and awarded attorney fees.
