Texas Judge Denies Motion for Injunction to Block State Department Censorship

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle for Eastern Texas in Tyler denied without prejudice the motion of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and the Daily Wire and Federalist media outlets for a preliminary injunction to block the State Department from promoting or using censorship technology that targets Americans’ speech or the right-leading U.S. press (see 2402080044), said Kernodle’s signed order Thursday (docket 6:23-cv-00609). Kernodle previously granted the plaintiffs’ motion for expedited preliminary-injunction discovery and granted the parties leave to supplement their existing briefing on the preliminary-injunction motion following that discovery, said the order. The judge will allow the plaintiffs to refile an amended motion for a preliminary injunction after the close of the expedited discovery, it said. Jan. 17 will be the deadline for the plaintiffs to file that amended motion, said the judge’s scheduling order Thursday.