SCOTUS Sets March 18 Oral Argument in Murthy v. Missouri

The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled oral argument for March 18 in Murthy v. Missouri, the case in which the government is seeking to vacate the injunction that bars officials from the White House and four federal agencies from coercing social media companies to moderate their content, said a text-only docket entry Monday (docket 23-411). The Republican attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, plus five individual social media user plaintiffs, won the injunction in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana in an unusual ruling issued on the July 4 holiday (see 2307050042). The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the injunction Oct. 3 with significant modifications (see 2310040001). SCOTUS granted the government’s cert petition to hear the case Oct. 20 over Justice Samuel Alito's objections (see 2310230003). It also granted the government’s request for a full stay of the injunction, pending the court’s resolution of the case.