A federal judge appointed by Joe Biden and confirmed by a flaccid U.S. Senate in the waning days of his failed administration has extended what can only be called a lifeline to Media Matters. In an expansive 48-page opinion by District Judge Sparkle (I swear I'm not making that up) L. Sooknanan found that engaging in what appears to be a coordinated campaign to bully advertisers into abandoning X.com is "quintessential First Amendment activity."
This all started when the Trump administration took office. Elon Musk sued Media Matters, claiming it was the target of an advertiser boycott organized by Media Matters and a "report" claiming that X was running ads near antisemitic material. As an aside, everyone involved in conservative media knows that Media Matters bullies advertisers on conservative sites.
This boycott, if real, likely violated the antitrust laws. And the nonprofit Media Matters is alleged to have been a ringleader in the boycott. That's the basic allegation @elonmusk's suit made and it is facially credible. 3/ pic.twitter.com/k6erGWcwsx
— James Burnham (@BurnhamDC) August 18, 2025
The FTC decided to investigate the claims, as did the Attorneys General of Texas and Missouri. Media Matters contested the Missouri and Texas subpoenas and prevailed before the D.C. Circuit: Missouri agreed to dismiss its action in February after losing before another D.C. judge in August 2024, and Texas lost in May. When the Trump administration entered office, one of the earliest actions by incoming Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson was to order an inquiry into the blatant anti-First Amendment activities of Media Matters.
The hammer blows of state and federal inquiries had an impact. Media Matters imposed budget cuts and a round of layoffs as it struggled to deal with escalating legal expenses; see It Looks Like Donald Trump and Elon Musk May Have Nuked Media Matters Into Oblivion – RedState.
Sooknanan, who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 16 and enjoyed a meteoric rise within the civil rights activist community, was confirmed by the Senate in December 2024 on a 50-48 vote. She is one of the batch of far-left judges that Senate Republicans allowed to be confirmed, even though the 2024 election was over and Biden had already lost. During her confirmation hearing, it became clear that she was a doctrinaire leftist who held the GOP in disdain. Here is Louisiana Senator John Kennedy getting to the meat of the matter.
“[T]he law is settled that . . . the First Amendment prohibits government officials from subjecting an individual to retaliatory actions . . . for speaking out.” Hartman v. Moore, 547 U.S. 250, 256 (2006). To prevail on a retaliation claim, a plaintiff must show: “(1) he engaged in conduct protected under the First Amendment; (2) the defendants took some retaliatory action sufficient to deter a person of ordinary firmness in plaintiff’s position from speaking again; and (3) a causal link between the exercise of a constitutional right and the adverse action taken against him.”
Not only has Sooknanan prejudged the nonexistent evidence in the case and found that Media Matters's conduct was constitutionally protected, but she has also created a standard where the government's suspicion of misconduct acts as a shield against investigation. So, the January 6 protesters claimed they were engaging in constitutionally protected behavior, just as Media Matters has claimed without providing a shred of proof, which should have precluded any investigation, much less indictment or trial.
Other "proof" that Sooknanan uses of the political nature of the investigation is that Ferguson appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast before he was nominated, and one of his prominent supporters said that Media Matters was crooked.
I'm just seeing this one.
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) August 19, 2025
And it's truly one of the most idiotic, laughable judicial orders I've read.
DC Biden Judge✨✨Sparkle Sooknanan✨✨, a former senior Biden Justice Department political appointee confirmed in a party-line Senate vote in the lame-duck session after… pic.twitter.com/8YGHn9wHqK
The FTC has appealed this bizarre ruling. As a panel of the D.C. Circuit will hear the appeal, there is no guarantee of the outcome.
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