Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21a720_6536.pdf
Page Number: 1.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 21A720 
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NETCHOICE, LLC, DBA NETCHOICE, ET AL. v. KEN 
PAXTON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

ON APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY 

[May 31, 2022] 

The  application  to  vacate  stay  presented  to  JUSTICE 
ALITO and by him referred to the Court is granted.  The May
11, 2022 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the 
Fifth Circuit staying the district court’s preliminary injunc-
tion is vacated. 

JUSTICE  KAGAN  would  deny  the  application  to  vacate 

stay. 

JUSTICE  ALITO,  with  whom  JUSTICE  THOMAS  and 
JUSTICE GORSUCH join, dissenting from grant of application 
to vacate stay. 

This application concerns issues of great importance that
will  plainly  merit  this  Court’s  review.    Social  media  plat-
forms have transformed the way people communicate with
each other and obtain news.1  At issue is a ground-breaking 
Texas law that addresses the power of dominant social me-
dia corporations to shape public discussion of the important 
issues of the day. 

The law in question, HB20, regulates “social media plat-
form[s]” that are “open to the public;” that “enabl[e] users
to communicate with other users for the primary purpose of
posting information, comments, messages, or images;” and 

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1 See, e.g., E. Shearer, Pew Research Center, More Than Eight-in-Ten
Americans Get News From Digital Devices (Jan. 12, 2021), https://www. 
pewresearch.org/ fact-tank /2021/01/12/more-than-eight-in-ten-americans-
get-news-from-digital-devices.