A federal judge says the Twitter Civil Liberties case against the City of Peoria is moving forward. Judge Michael Mihm denied the city’s request to dismiss the case brought by 29-year old Jon Daniel.
Daniel’s home was raided by police after he created a fake Twitter account to spoof Peoria's mayor. Harvey Grossman is the attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and represents Daniel. "The law that we will be applying in this case is very traditional first and fourth amendment it’s simply in the context of electronic expression.”
Daniel posted perverse messages on the fake account before Twitter suspended it. Authorities sought warrants on the basis Daniel falsely impersonating Mayor Jim Ardis.
Jim Sotos is the attorney for the City. "In the end this case is going to come down whether or not there was probable cause for the action the defendants took. And we believe with that finding we will ultimately dispose of all the claims.”
Judge Mihm says there seems to be little dispute of the facts as they exist on the record, and suggested a summary judgment might be an option.
Attorneys on both side say they expect the legal process of discovery to take about six months.