U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, a federal judge has determined, has agreed to  testify in Brooklyn federal court in a lawsuit brought by a former New York state assemblyman who was blocked from her @AOC Twitter account.

At an evidentiary hearing Thursday, Senior U.S. District Judge Frederic Block of the Eastern District of New York said Ocasio-Cortez should testify before the case, which was filed in July, moves forward. The Daily News reported that Block at the Thursday hearing said "I think she needs to testify here."

Ocasio-Cortez' lawyer Joseph Sandler of Sandler, Reiff, Lamb, Rosenstein & Birkenstock confirmed that Ocasio-Cortez would testify in the matter, without further action from Block. A date for her testimony had not been set as of Friday, according to Sandler.

Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, who runs an organization called Americans Against Anti-Semitism, sued in July after his verified Twitter account was blocked by Ocasio-Cortez' verified Twitter account.

Hikind's lawyers argue that he was blocked "purely because of his speech in support of Jewish values and Israel," making the case a First Amendment question, according to court documents and attorney Jacob Weinstein, who is representing Hikind.

Ocasio-Cortez, who has said people are only blocked from her Twitter account for harassment, in her answer to the complaint last month asked for the suit to be dismissed with prejudice.

Hikind filed his suit the same day that Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Southern District of New York ruling that President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking people from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account.

In that case, Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute sued Trump on behalf of seven people blocked from his Twitter account, arguing that they were being deprived of a public forum under the First Amendment.

Both Trump and Ocasio-Cortez have official Twitter accounts related to their jobs—@POTUS and @RepAOC, respectively—but they use the accounts that predate their offices more often and discuss political issues on those accounts, according to court documents.

Hikind's complaint repeatedly cited the Trump ruling. A petition from Trump's legal team for a rehearing en banc is currently pending.

In August, the Knight Institute wrote a letter to Ocasio-Cortez saying that her Twitter blocking was unconstitutional and offering to help her develop a social media policy.

In a response on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that fewer than 20 Twitter users were blocked from her account due to "ongoing harassment," including the distribution of fake nude images claiming to feature her. She said none of the people blocked were her constituents. Hikind lives outside her district, according to court documents.

While a date for Ocasio-Cortez' testimony was not confirmed Friday, Hikind's lawyer Jacob Weinstein said Block suggested dates in late October and early November, indicating that the judge wants the case to move quickly.

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