Texas Judge Largely Denies State Department’s Motion to Dismiss Censorship Suit

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle for Eastern Texas in Tyler denied the State Department’s motion to dismiss the complaint of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and the right-leaning Daily Wire and Federalist media outlets and allegations that the department is marketing and promoting censorship tools and technologies to social media platforms to stifle the content of disfavored press organizations (see 2312060043), said the judge’s signed memorandum opinion and order Tuesday (docket 6:23-cv-00609). The judge also denied the department’s motion to transfer the case to the District of Columbia on grounds that venue is improper in the Eastern District of Texas, said his order. The judge did grant the department’s motion to dismiss Count 4 of the complaint because the plaintiffs haven’t identified a final agency action for the court to review under the Administrative Procedure Act, it said. On the other counts, the judge found that the complaint sufficiently alleges that the plaintiffs have standing to challenge the defendants’ actions, it said.