Backpage.com, LLC v Thomas J. Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, No. 15-3047 (7th Cir. 2015)

(1) The Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois in an attempt to shut down Backpage.com’s advertising of sexual services sent a letter to Visa and MasterCard, demanding the companies to "immediately cease and desist from allowing . . . credit cards to be used to place ads on websites like Backpage.com." Visa and MasterCard complied and refused to process credit card transactions to purchase any ads on the website, including those for other services. (2) Backpage then filed a preliminary injunction against the Sheriff, but it was denied by the Northern District Court of Illinois. (3) On appeal, Judge Posner from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found the Sheriff in violation of the website's First Amendment right through "threatened imposition of government power or sanction" in an attempt to stifle protected forms of speech. According to Posner's decision, First Amendment protected platforms and intermediaries from government threats and coercion to remove unwanted speech. See also Columbia GFE