Twitter v. Taamneh/Opinion of Justice Jackson
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 21–1496
TWITTER, INC., PETITIONER v. MEHIER TAAMNEH, ET AL.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
[May 18, 2023]
Justice Jackson, concurring.
I join the opinion of the Court with the understanding that today’s decisions are narrow in important respects. In this case and its companion, Gonzalez v. Google, 598 U. S. ___ (2023) (per curiam), the Court has applied 18 U. S. C. §2333(d)(2) to two closely related complaints, filed by the same counsel. Both cases came to this Court at the motion-to-dismiss stage, with no factual record. And the Court’s view of the facts—including its characterizations of the social-media platforms and algorithms at issue—properly rests on the particular allegations in those complaints. Other cases presenting different allegations and different records may lead to different conclusions.
The Court also draws on general principles of tort and criminal law to inform its understanding of §2333(d)(2). General principles are not, however, universal. The common-law propositions this Court identifies in interpreting §2333(d)(2) do not necessarily translate to other contexts.