While it is early days, Tuesday’s lawsuit proves promising for several reasons. First, the detailed allegations, which include the words of the defendants themselves, establish multiple connections among the government, the EIP, and the Virality Project, providing a solid basis for the First Amendment claims.

Second, attorney John Sauer is one of the plaintiffs’ named attorneys and has already cut his teeth in the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit against the government defendants who coordinated with the social media companies to censor speech. Most prominently, Sauer represents many of the plaintiffs in that case and deposed, among others, Elvis Chan, the FBI agent who coordinated many of the government’s censorship efforts.

Further, this class-action lawsuit was filed in the same court as the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit, the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division, which is where Hines resides. There is only one active federal judge in the Monroe Division — Trump appointee Terry A. Doughty — so it is likely the case will be assigned to him.

[Stay tuned. I think the state lawsuits may get more traction in court, but private actions will be important too — and if one succeeds, then plaintiffs can bury Censorship Inc with a blizzard of such lawsuits. — Ed]