WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it would appeal against a federal judge’s ruling that President Donald Trump may not legally block Twitter users from his account on the social media platform based on their political views, according to a court filing. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: The masthead of U.S. President Donald Trump's @realDonaldTrump Twitter account is seen on July 11, 2017. @realDonaldTrump/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer for the seven plaintiffs who sued, said the @realDonaldTrump account had unblocked the seven plaintiffs on Monday. 
 
 “We’re pleased that the White House unblocked our clients from the President’s Twitter account but disappointed that the government intends to appeal the district court’s thoughtful and well-supported ruling,” Jaffer said in an email. 
 
 The White House did not comment immediately. A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the plaintiffs had been unblocked. 
 
 Trump has made his Twitter account - with more than 52 million followers - an integral and controversial part of his presidency, using it to promote his agenda, announce policy and attack critics. He has blocked many critics from his account, which prevents them from directly responding to his tweets. 
 
 U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan ruled on May 23 that comments on the president’s account, and those of other government officials, were public forums and that blocking Twitter users for their views violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 
 
 Buchwald’s ruling was in response to a First Amendment lawsuit filed against Trump in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and several Twitter users. 
 
 The plaintiffs include Philip Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, and Brandon Neely, a Texas police officer. 
 
 Cohen, who was blocked from Trump’s account a year ago, wrote on Twitter late Monday: “We whined. We complained. We sued. We won our First Amendment lawsuit in federal court. And now @realDonaldTrump has unblocked me. Wow!” 
 
 Neely tweeted at Trump after he was unblocked late Monday: “@realDonaldTrump 368 days and a win in court and now I AM BACK!!!” 
 
 Novelists Stephen King and Anne Rice, comedian Rosie O’Donnell, model Chrissy Teigen, actress Marina Sirtis and the military veterans political action committee VoteVets.org are among others who have said on Twitter that Trump blocked them. 
 
 Buchwald rejected the argument by Justice Department lawyers that Trump’s own First Amendment rights allowed him to block people with whom he did not wish to interact. 
 
 Trump could “mute” users, meaning he would not see their tweets while they could still respond to his, she said, without violating their free speech rights. ||||| President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he uses his tweets as a way to get around the mainstream media. Here is Twitter feed is shown on April 3. | J. David Ake/AP Justice Dept. appeals ruling in Trump Twitter-blocking case 
 
 President Donald Trump and one of his top aides on Monday night appealed a federal court ruling that said the president was violating the constitutional rights of individuals he has blocked from viewing his personal Twitter feed. 
 
 Three Justice Department officials filed notice of their appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of Trump and Dan Scavino, the White House social media director. 
 
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 Late last month, U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, ruled that Twitter serves as a “designated public forum.” Since Twitter reaches that threshold, the judge ruled, blocking people from the president’s personal Twitter account is a violation of their constitutional rights. 
 
 Trump has repeatedly said he uses his tweets as a way to get around the mainstream media that he views as biased against him. On occasion, he has also appeared to use his personal account to make policy statements, like last July when he declared that transgender service members would be barred from serving in the military in “any capacity.” 
 
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 The Justice Department has previously argued that the case would thrust the First Amendment into “uncharted waters,” as federal courts would be dictating what a president could or could not do on a private website. 
 
 “It would send the First Amendment deep into uncharted waters to hold that a president’s choices about whom to follow, and whom to block, on Twitter — a privately run website that, as a central feature of its social-media platform, enables all users to block particular individuals from viewing posts — violate the Constitution,” Justice Department attorney Michael Baer wrote in August 2017.
– "We whined. We complained. We sued. We won our First Amendment lawsuit in federal court. And now @realDonaldTrump has unblocked me," University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen tweeted Monday. The Justice Department later confirmed all seven plaintiffs who successfully argued President Trump violated their right to free speech by blocking them on Twitter had been unblocked following their court win two weeks ago, reports Reuters. Still, it's apparently too soon for them to celebrate. Trump and White House social media director Dan Scavino are appealing the ruling that determined the blocking of people who addressed the presidential account was a constitutional violation, Politico reports, citing notices filed by three DOJ officials on Monday. Though the basis for the appeal wasn't made clear, DOJ attorney Michael Baer previously said "it would send the First Amendment deep into uncharted waters to hold that a president's choices about whom to follow, and whom to block, on Twitter—a privately run website that, as a central feature of its social-media platform, enables all users to block particular individuals from viewing posts—violate the Constitution," per Politico. A lawyer representing the seven plaintiffs says she's "disappointed that the government intends to appeal the district court's thoughtful and well-supported ruling," though she adds she's "pleased" to see blocked users regain their right to free speech. Among them: Texas police officer Brandon Neely. "I AM BACK!!!" he wrote to Trump on Monday.