Twitter Inc., now rebranded as X, was fined $350,000 for failing to immediately comply with a Justice Department search warrant for records related to former President Donald Trump’s account, according to a court opinion unsealed on Wednesday.
Special Counsel John “Jack” Smith’s office had obtained a search warrant for data and other records related to Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account in mid-January, according to the opinion. It asked for the nondisclosure order, arguing that revealing the warrant to Trump “would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him an opportunity to destroy evidence or otherwise change his behavior.
Smith is leading the prosecution of Trump over his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected Twitter’s objections to an order that prohibited the company from notifying anyone about the warrant. The opinion shows that Twitter ultimately did comply with the warrant, which related to Smith’s criminal investigation.
The fight had unfolded largely in secret court proceedings until Wednesday, when the DC Circuit ordered a redacted version of its July 18 opinion unsealed. The ruling shows that a three-judge panel unanimously upheld the civil contempt sanction as well as a lower court judge’s ruling keeping the nondisclosure order in place.
A spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on the opinion.
Twitter had argued that the nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections, and that it shouldn’t have to comply with the warrant until that issue was fully litigated. A district court judge ruled against the company and ordered Twitter to comply by Feb. 7. Twitter missed that deadline and didn’t produce the records until the evening of Feb. 9, triggering the monetary sanctions.
The DC Circuit panel featured Judges Nina Pillard, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, and Judges J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, who were appointed by President Joe Biden. Pan wrote the opinion.
The case is 23-5044, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.
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