Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Photo: Wiki Commons)
Nov. 5, 2019 By Allie Griffin
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apologized Monday to a former Brooklyn Assemblyman, who had filed a First Amendment lawsuit against her for blocking him on Twitter.
The Congresswoman said she reconsidered her decision to block Dov Hikind from her Twitter account.
Her apology and subsequent unblocking were part of a settlement deal. She was due in court Tuesday to testify in the case, but did not need to appear following the settlement.
“Mr. Hikind has a First Amendment right to express his views and should not be blocked for them. In retrospect, it was wrong and improper and does not reflect the values that I cherish,” AOC said in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for blocking Mr. Hikind.”
Hikind filed the lawsuit in July shortly after Ocasio-Cortez blocked him from her personal Twitter account, @AOC, which has 5.7 million followers. She uses the account to promote her policy agenda and communicate with constituents on issues.
Hikind said he was blocked after he criticized her remarks comparing the Trump administration’s immigrant detention centers to concentration camps.
Hikind, who was in politics for nearly four decades and founded a nonprofit group that fights anti-Semitism, has been a constant critic of Ocasio-Cortez.
In the lawsuit, Hikind argued that his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech were violated when AOC blocked him.
“I was blocked suddenly. I could not be part of the conversation, I could not share my thoughts,” Hikind said at a press conference Monday. “My mouth was closed shut. I could not respond.”
Hikind touted his win calling AOC’s apology “a great great victory.”
“It’s rather remarkable that she sincerely apologizes for blocking me,” Hikind said. “This is a great moment, I hope more good can come out of this.”
However, Ocasio-Cortez said she still reserves the right to block users on Twitter.
“Now and in the future, however, I reserve the right to block users who engage in actual harassment or exploit my personal/campaign account, @AOC, for commercial or other improper purposes,” she said in the statement.
Ocasio-Cortez’ decision comes months after a three-judge panel barred President Trump from blocking critics on his personal twitter account—since he uses it for political purposes.
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25 Comments
Trump blocked hundreds of his critics on Twitter, he’s pretty fragile. He lost a lawsuit and had to unblock them.
AOC blocked 1 person, didn’t lose any lawsuits, and apologized. Is that what you mean by “hypocrisy?” lol
Besides tweeting, what exactly has she done, besides costing us 25,000 jobs?
In the WHOLE 6 months she’s been in office?
* questioned Michael Cohen (who paid off the porn star our president cheated on his pregnant wife with)
* The green new deal
* Called out Trump for his racist insistence that American-born congresswomen should “go back to your own country”
* assigned to 4 subcommittees
* supported ending then camps Trump was storing children in
Any more questions? You can’t spell your own screenname btw lmao
It’s not related, you’re just obsessed. And I did spell it right ( lmao right back at you) but , again, reality and the Ultra left, very distant cousins. People like you are one of the main reasons why he is President.
> It’s not related
Well said, Trump blocking his critics on Twitter is totally different than someone else doing the exact same thing.
You don’t need to capitalize “Ultra,” just proper nouns.
“Doughboy” is one word. If it’s your username you should maybe google it.
AOC did not want to face criticism about her dopey comments about the border. I think she should be able to block anyone – but that is the law
Trump lost a lawsuit because he block SO many people, but it’s way worse that AOC blocked 1 person and apologized.
She uses it as part of her public political office to convey political messages so it must be open to comments from the public…otherwise it is considered political censorship….if it were her personal account she could choose to block whomever
Talk about obsessed, an article involving AOC, Dov Hikind and Twitter and somehow you gotta use one of your 17 alias to attack Trump and Roy Cohn. There is help out there to treat your Trump derangement syndrome. You may even get a Dunkin Donuts card for going. Good Luck.
It’s related because Trump’s so fragile he had to block anyone that criticized him. Like AOC, he also came under fire for it. Unlike AOC, he did it to hundreds of people and lost a lawsuit related to it.
BTW it’s spelled “dough boy” lmao
We love you AOC! Keep doing what you do.
So when will she apologize to the NTA for encouraging hundreds of people to jump the turnstile???
Just as long as AOC has to abide by the same rules as Trump… I haven’t finalized an opinion on the issue, but I *am* weary of the left’s hypocrisy…
The majority of voters in Sunnyside and NY voted for Hillary. Trump tricked the minority around here not the majority.
I a not on twitter, nor care much about it but why cant she block others? They have the first amendment right to tweet all day long if they want to, they just need to get their own followers – can someone explain the logic – if Twitter had blocked them that would be a violation.
Apparently AOC did not want to testify under oath about her tweets comparing immigration detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps. Her failure to comprehend the differences and her attempt to silence critics speak volumes. One suspects that Mr. Dov Hikind understands more about the Holocaust than AOC.
He got sued for it and lost. All the Trump lovers are mad about him blocking people right? Otherwise you’d be a giant hypocrite
Why can someone be sued for blocking a twitter user? I don’t understand it with either Trump or AOC. Can anyone explain this? What if the poster issues a threat or tells a blatant lie? They still can’t be blocked? Isn’t the whole idea of Russiagate is that that false accounts from bots can and should be blocked?
blocking means that he or she can no longer post on her twitter page
Trump tricked you into believing he was going to DC to drain the swamp. Trump has a long history of criminal behavior that’s why he was schooled by Roy Cohn. Trump is the new boss in town and went there to make sure he gets his cut.
I’m not sure I understand the issue. Blocking a twitter user does not infringe upon his free speech. The individual is still free to say whatever they want. The right of free speech does not imply that a counter-party is required to listen.
The issue is that she is a politician and is trying to prevent someone’s freedom of speech. Because she is an elected politician, her Twitter account is considered public domain, and she can not decide who can speak (tweet) and who can not, especially if she doesn’t like it. That’s part of being a politician, and that’s why she was forced to apologize. If she can’t stand the heat, then she should get out of the kitchen.
Wow. AOC acknowledges the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, our Bill of Rights. I wonder when she’ll get around to reading the others?
This seems like an open and shut issue – politicians should be able to block users on Twitter, the same way they could prevent a heckler from coming into a rally or disrupting a DNC political meeting. Easy case. That said, I’m sure there is a large overlap of people who were ecstatic or enraged about the Trump twitter court decision and are on the polar opposite side of things with AOC. It’s really frustrating that people can’t put their biases aside and reason and think consistently.
Trump, Cortez, they are on opposite ends of the scale, but no different. Trump came to drain the swamp, but it just turned into a bog, it looks like dry land, but it’s now worse than a swamp. I hope someone throws us a rope and pulls us out of this politics ugliness.