Judge Boasberg is back, haunting the administration. On July 14, he blocked the Trump administration from denying visas and ordering deportations of “disinformation” foreign nationals. The administration accused them of leading the global “censorship-industrial complex.”
Last year, the United States issued a visa policy targeting foreign nationals whom it claimed censor Americans’ free speech abroad.
“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X at the time.
Boasberg sided with the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR), which said it burdens foreign researchers. Boasberg said it violates the US Constitution’s First Amendment. It weaponizes government, Boasberg said.
The CITR is deeply involved in the Digital Services Act as watchdogs, auditors, and advocates to silence US speech in violation of our First Amendment.
Whether they can be deprived of visas, I can’t say. I’m not a lawyer. However, one would think the Secretary of State would have that power.
In Washington on July 14, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (CITR) in finding that the administration’s policy likely “burdens” the speech of noncitizen researchers in the United States in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
In December 2025, the State Department imposed visa bans on five Europeans, including a former European Union commissioner, and anti-disinformation activists whom Rubio called “leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex.”
The five who were banned were the ones weaponizing government. They are censoring Americans with the Online Safety Act.
