EXCLUSIVE — Congressional Republicans investigating the Biden administration over allegations that agencies suppressed speech online are backing a new lawsuit accusing the United States government of funding an unconstitutional “censorship scheme.”
Texas joined the Federalist and the Daily Wire, two conservative media outlets, in suing the State Department last week for “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation,” according to a complaint that extensively cites reporting by the Washington Examiner. The lawsuit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance in the Lone Star State’s U.S. District Court for the Eastern District. Now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking notice, applauding the lawsuit as a vital next step in thwarting what the GOP has dubbed the “Censorship Industrial Complex.”
… In an interview last week, New Civil Liberties Alliance attorney Margot Cleveland, who also writes for the Federalist, said she expects discovery in the lawsuit could shine a light on how the U.S. government’s “censorship” operations have been “a lot more complicated and nefarious” than previously known. At the same time, GOP-led congressional committees are beginning to receive documents they requested on the GDI months prior, which could also provide answers lawmakers have sought, such as whether the State Department knew the GDI was blacklisting conservative outlets, according to two sources familiar….