The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in two First Amendment cases. The National Rifle Association is accusing a New York state official of threatening insurance companies in order to get them to cut ties with the gun rights group. In the other case, conservative states and social media users allege the federal government overstepped when it put pressure on social media companies to moderate misinformation around COVID-19 and the 2020 election. The justices appeared skeptical of efforts to limit the Biden administration’s contact with social media companies. This is liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: “So, I guess some might say that the government actually has a duty to take steps to protect the citizens of this country, and you seem to be suggesting that that duty cannot manifest itself in the government encouraging or even pressuring platforms to take down harmful information. So, can you help me? Because I’m really — I’m really worried about that, because you’ve got the First Amendment operating in an environment of threatening circumstances, from the government’s perspective, and you’re saying that the government can’t interact with the source of those problems.”