{"id":313098,"date":"2026-06-19T14:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/313098\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:15:08","slug":"another-blow-to-floridas-sb-7072-court-rejects-floridas-first-amendment-defense-sends-case-to-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/313098\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Blow to Florida\u2019s SB 7072: Court Rejects Florida\u2019s First Amendment Defense, Sends Case to Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla.\u2014Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/335.-2026-06-18-Order-Denying-Summary-dckt-335_0.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">denied<\/a> both parties\u2019 motions for summary judgment in NetChoice &amp; CCIA v. Uthmeier, the five-year challenge to Florida\u2019s unconstitutional SB 7072. While NetChoice and CCIA would have welcomed a final ruling today, the court\u2019s order firmly reaffirms the constitutional principles that have protected Floridians\u2019 access to a free internet since this litigation began, and it flatly dispatches Florida\u2019s only remaining defense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlorida\u2019s central argument was that the First Amendment simply does not apply to websites\u2019 editorial decisions. That argument did not survive today,\u201d said Paul Taske, Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center. \u201cWe would have preferred to end this at summary judgment after five years of litigation, but we go to trial with full confidence that a full record will only make the constitutional problems with SB 7072 clearer. This law was designed from the start to punish websites for their political viewpoints. That is precisely what the First Amendment forbids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s order leaves no doubt where the First Amendment stands. The court confirmed that website content curation, including so-called \u201cmixed curation\u201d that blends editorial standards with algorithmic ranking, receives First Amendment protection. The government cannot regulate its way around the First Amendment simply because websites use algorithms. The court rejected that argument as \u201cplainly incorrect,\u201d citing the Supreme Court\u2019s own analysis in Moody v. NetChoice and the long line of precedents it discussed.<\/p>\n<p>SB 7072 has been blocked from taking effect since June 30, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Read today\u2019s order <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/335.-2026-06-18-Order-Denying-Summary-dckt-335_0.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Find case resources for NetChoice &amp; CCIA v. Uthmeier <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/netchoice-ccia-v-moody\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Please contact <a href=\"https:\/\/netchoice.org\/another-blow-to-floridas-sb-7072-court-rejects-floridas-first-amendment-defense-sends-case-to-trial\/mailto:press@netchoice.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">press@netchoice.org<\/a> with inquiries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla.\u2014Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida denied both parties\u2019 motions for summary&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-313098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}