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Goodbye Berenson v (Joe) Biden.
Hello Berenson v (Albert) Bourla.
Today, the Trump Administration and I settled the federal government’s role in Berenson v Biden, my lawsuit against Biden Administration and Pfizer officials for violating my Constitutional rights and forcing Twitter to ban me in summer 2021.
After three hard-fought years, this settlement marks a massive win in my fight to hold the government and Pfizer accountable for their conspiracy to silence me. I could not have done it without your support. (Or Elon Musk’s.)
The agreement includes a six-figure payment and a statement “the Government did in fact violate the First Amendment by exerting substantial coercive pressure on social media companies such as Twitter to suppress disfavored speech like Plaintiff’s.”
James Lawrence, my (very able) lawyer, and I believe this settlement marks the first time any individual American has received a cash payment to resolve a lawsuit over government coercion of social media companies.
More importantly, the government’s admission may prove crucial as my suit moves ahead against its remaining defendants, Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb and chairman Dr. Albert Bourla.
I am pleased the Trump administration recognized the Biden White House’s violations of my rights and chose to settle with me despite my recent criticism of Trump. At least in my case, the White House is practicing what it preaches on the First Amendment. A thank-you is in order.
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(I will never, never, NEVER stop fighting for the First Amendment and the truth. Join me.)
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The battle is won. But the war is not over.
While the settlement releases the government from the case, it leaves us open to pursue Bourla and Gottlieb for their role in the conspiracy. That conspiracy was not just against me, but against all unvaccinated people who were reading and listening to me as the Biden Administration prepared to force mRNA jabs on healthy adults.
And we are pushing ahead, by asking the federal Second Circuit of Appeals in New York City to find Covid unvaccinated people deserve the same First Amendment protections as a group as many other disfavored groups do.
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(Scott Gottlieb does his Scott Gottlieb thing. Yes, he was talking about me. Somehow he forgot to mention in this email that he was getting paid by company that sold about $100 billion in mRNA jabs. Oops!
Todd O’Boyle was Twitter’s top White House lobbyist in 2021. You can smell the swamp fumes from here. Or maybe that’s just Gottlieb’s hair oil.)
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The settlement came on the eve of the government’s deadline to file a response to our appeal, after Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke dismissed our lawsuit last fall.
Our complaint contained ample evidence Gottlieb worked with Biden administration officials to force Twitter to ban me in 2021, even as Twitter’s most senior executives questioned if I had done anything to violate the platform’s terms of service. Bourla contacted top officials at the same time, including a White House meeting with Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff.
In fact, it was Gottlieb’s direct appeal to Twitter’s White House lobbyist over my famous Aug. 28, 2021 “It doesn’t stop infection” tweet that led directly to my ban.
In general, private companies and individuals cannot directly violate First Amendment rights. But a federal law known as 1985(3) gives plaintiffs the right to sue in federal courts over conspiracies that keep them from “having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States.”
Federal courts have generally construed 1985(3) narrowly. But the conspiracy between Gottlieb, Bourla, and the federal government in 2021 is clearly the type of behavior for which the statute creates liability.
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(I hope so much that one day I’ll get to see Pfizer and Scott Gottlieb try to defend banning me over this tweet to a jury. Even a New York jury.)
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The question James Lawrence and I will ask the Second Circuit to answer is not whether federal or state governments may require vaccinations. It is whether unvaccinated people have the same rights to speak to each other as people who are vaccinated.1 And the government’s acknowledgement in its settlement that it did in fact violate those First Amendment rights makes my case stronger.
If we win at the Second Circuit, our lawsuit will be alive back in front of Judge Clarke. And we will get the discovery about the communications between the White House and Pfizer in summer 2021 I have been fighting to see for three years.
If we lose at the Second Circuit, we’ll go to the Supreme Court and try there.
Three years in, the fight has only begun.
But today is a good day. A very, very good day. The mainstream media might even have to take notice (though I’m not counting on it).
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(And any day is a good day to subscribe! Catch up on the paywalled history of Berenson v BidenBourla)
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Note: that six-figure settlement should cover us through the Second Circuit appeal.
But hopefully we will soon be back before Judge Clarke, fighting Pfizer for depositions, discovery, and the chance to get to a jury.
And over the last four years, beginning with Berenson v Twitter, I’ve realized many of you give because you want to stand with me in this fight.
If that’s how you feel, you can still donate:
You can also Venmo me at Alex-Berenson-3
Or send a check to James Lawrence at Envisage Law, PO Box 30099
Raleigh, North Carolina 27622
Donations of all sizes welcome — this is about standing together.
We have other arguments too, including whether Gottlieb and Bourla interfered with my contract with Twitter, but this one is the most important legally and constitutionally.
