Trump, Twitter resolve legal stand-off

The co-dependent couple that is Donald Trump and Twitter have resolved their latest fight.

Early this morning NZT, the Trump administration dropped a summons demanding Twitter reveal the name of the person behind, an account critical of the President's immigration policies, Reuters says.

In return, Twitter has dropped a free speech lawsuit against the government over the demand.

The US government claims the individual or individuals behind @ALT_uscis work for the immigration service.

US Customs and Border Protection issued the administrative summons in March. It demanded that Twitter “produce for inspection…[a]ll records regarding the [T]witter account @ALT_USCIS to include, User names, account login, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and I.P. addresses.”

Twitter filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the action on Friday NZT.

Anti-climactically, an administrative foul-up undermined US Customs' action; its summons, sent on March 14, demanded Twitter turnover identity details by March 13. 

Twitter also argues that Customs has exceeded its federal mandate by issuing a summons that was not related to “any investigation or inquiry relating to the import of merchandise.”

But if it had gone to court, Twitter's original filing indicates the tack it would have taken. The company said:

“Compelled disclosure of the identities of Twitter users who have engaged in pseudonymous speech would chill their exercise of the constitutionally protected right to speak anonymously/ Moreover, independent of its users’ rights, Twitter’s actions in providing a platform for the dissemination of its users’ speech — including its decision to permit the publication of pseudonymous speech — is fully protected by the First Amendment.”

Twitter has been a mixed blessing for Donald Trump.

On one hand, it's given him a direct line to more than 27 million people, and a mechanism to constantly set the news agenda, divert it, or propel it forward to the next controversy when the current one isn't going so well.

On the other, it's helped to facilitate hundreds of leaks, from various federal agencies to the White House itself, making the Trump administration the most porous in history.