Lawsuit Over AOC's Twitter Blocking Should Be Tossed, Lawyers Say

NEW YORK — Lawyers for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked a federal judge this week to toss one of two lawsuits accusing her of violating free-speech rights by blocking critics on Twitter.

The Bronx Democrat's attorneys called for the dismissal of a complaint that former state Assembly Member Dov Hikind filed last month after he was blocked from interacting with the lawmaker's tweets.

Hikind — a Brooklyn Democrat who has slammed Ocasio-Cortez for comparing immigrant detention facilities to concentration camps — doesn't have standing to bring the lawsuit and did not properly serve the congresswoman, her lawyers said in a Wednesday filing in Brooklyn federal court.

Ocasio-Cortez's answer to the lawsuit does not explain why she blocked Hikind on Twitter. But the lawmaker "denies that Mr. Hikind is entitled to any relief against Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in this action," her lawyers, Allyson L. Belovin and Robert H. Stroup, wrote.

Hikind and Republican congressional candidate Joey Saladino each sued Ocasio-Cortez in July in an effort to get federal judges to order her to un-block them.

Both lawsuits claim Ocasio-Cortez violated her critics' First Amendment rights by barring them from seeing or replying to her tweets. They came after a federal appeals court ruled that President Donald Trump cannot legally shut out critics on Twitter.

"The law is clear now: You can't block anybody, period," Hikind said in a Thursday television interview. "If you have a problem with people, maybe resign."

Ocasio-Cortez has not yet replied to the complaint brought by Saladino, a YouTube personality running for Rep. Max Rose's Staten Island-based House seat. Neither Saladino nor Hikind live in Ocasio-Cortez's district, which covers parts of The Bronx and Queens.