The Supreme Court is gearing up for a ruling on whether the Biden administration may directly speak to executives at social media companies to encourage them to take down content, like Covid misinformation, that violates the platforms’ rules. The question has far-reaching implications for free-speech and the president’s use of the bully pulpit, which has long been assumed to allow for some amount of bullying. It therefore deserves a close look by the justices, not just a drive-by ruling.
Yet the case has not come before the court in the familiar form of a petition for certiorari appealing a lower court decision. If it had, there would be a robust process in which the parties would file briefs, friends of the court would come forward with briefs of their own, a full oral argument would be scheduled, and the court would then deliberate about the issue — perhaps for months —…
