By Ray K. Erku, Glenwood Springs Post Independent
After being sued in federal court for allegedly violating free-speech rights U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Garfield County, asked that the motion be denied because the allegations ignore the distinction between personal and private Twitter accounts.
Boebert was elected to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in 2020.
Bri Buentello, a former Democratic state representative who lives in Boebert’s district, sued the congresswoman in January after she was blocked her from accessing Boebert’s Twitter feed.
Buentello, who lives in Pueblo, told the Post Independent on Tuesday that she originally told Boebert to resign following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“I tweeted that at 6 p.m. that day,” she said. Boebert was accused by some of potentially endangering other elected officials with her tweets that day. “I was blocked by 5 a.m. the next day.”
Buentello’s attorney, David Lane, argued that Boebert cannot legally bar constituents from access to her Twitter feed since she shares official policy on it.
By February, Boebert, in her personal capacity, filed an unopposed motion for an extension of time to respond to the preliminary injunction motion, which was granted by U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico.
Through her attorney Douglas Letter, Boebert’s injunction response argues the motion should be denied “because it ignores the critical distinction between the Congresswoman’s personal and official Twitter accounts, a mistake fatal to each of Ms. Buentello’s legal arguments.”
“The Motion alleges only that Ms. Boebert blocked Ms. Buentello from accessing her personal Twitter account, @laurenboebert,” court records state. “Ms. Boebert, however, operates that Twitter account in her individual capacity, not as a state actor. For that reason, there is no likelihood that Ms. Buentello can obtain the requested relief from the sovereign for private acts allegedly taken when Ms. Boebert was operating her personal Twitter account.”
Read the full story at postindependent.com.