Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sued for blocking ex-assemblyman on Twitter

July 11 (UPI) -- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being sued for blocking former New York assemblyman Dov Hikind on Twitter, he says for violating his right to free speech.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday, the complaint states Ocasio-Cortez blocked Hikind July 8 "because of opinions he expressed regarding AOC and in reply to defendant's tweets."

"Hikind, a staunch supporter of Jewish values, against anti-Semitism and Israel, was blocked by AOC purely because of his speech in support of Jewish values and Israel," the complaint said, referring to Ocasio-Cortez by her initials.

Prior to being blocked, Hikind criticized the freshman lawmaker for tweets in which she compared migrant detention facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border to concentration camps run by Germany in the Holocaust during World War II.

The filing says there is legal precedent, as on Tuesday the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New York judge's ruling that ordered President Donald Trump to stop blocking U.S citizens on Twitter, stating he was violating their rights to free speech. The suit against Ocasio-Cortez says she blocks people on Twitter "in an effort to suppress contrary views" and that the recent appeals court decision found the practice to be unconstitutional.

By blocking Hikind on Twitter, he's prevented from seeing her comments or participating in otherwise public conversations, the complaint said.

"As the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recognized ... it is unconstitutional for a political figure to 'engage in viewpoint discrimination by utilizing Twitter's blocking function to limit certain users access' to social media for disagreeing with their speech," the complaint said, quoting the appellate decision.