Officials Yardley violated the rights of the inhabitant’s first amendment, when they removed the critical commentary from the Facebook page of the relative County Borough, said the federal judge this week.
District judge Mark A. Kearney refused to ask Yardley officials to remove them from a lawsuit brought by the resident, Earl Markey, compared to the Facebook comment on Facebook in 2022, saying that they are not resistant to responsibility, because there is a “consensus of the established law” that removing the comment was a violation of freedom of word.
“The resident undoubtedly enjoys the right to properly criticize his local government officials as part of the first amendment without fear of government censorship,” said Kearney.
The claim sheds delicate on the issues of freedom of speech in the era of state officials communicating through social media and gives insight into the local policy of the district with less than 3000 inhabitants.
In October 2022, MARKEY, 42-year-old corporate coach and Local member of the Republican Committeecommented on a Facebook post about “Yardley Boro“A side promoting a measure for voting, which would reduce the size of the commune council from seven members to five.
“The designated councilor Matt Curtin wants to raise real estate taxes by two mills,” Marky wrote, according to the picture of the commentary contained in the lawsuit. “Stop without selected investment bankers, such as Matt Curtin, from our volunteers of our hard -earned money for higher taxes. Vote in a referendum to reduce the size of the Borough Yardley council.”
Markey led a petition supported by a measure for voting in 2022 after Failed candidacy to a place in the council last year. The voters rejected this measure.
According to court files, the chairwoman of the Council Caroline Thompson approved the removal of comments a few hours after its publication. The commentary was recognized as a personal attack of the district manager and Open Records officer, Paul Johnson.
In response, Markey sued Thompson, Johnson and a district in the eastern district of Pennsylvania, claiming that they violated his right to freedom of speech. (Markey also called two other officials who were removed from court proceedings).
“For me it crossed the line,” said Markey, calling the removal of the commentary “censorship by public officials.”
Markey lodged a complaint without a lawyer the day after the commentation was published. In response, Yardley officials allowed Markey to comment again to avoid emergencies in accordance with court files. They also agreed to return their fee for notification of USD 300 and gave the names of officials who moderate the party, in accordance with court documents. Thompson also proposed a draft novel social media policy.
The policy project stated that the Yardley page on Facebook “only applies to moderated online discussions and is not a public forum”, and the district may remove the misleading comments or those containing personal attacks and block the publication user, in accordance with court files.
This did not satisfy Markey and the trial.
Yardley officials said in court files that they were resistant to responsibility because they acted in their official nature, and it is not clear whether they violated Markey’s law to freedom of speech.
“The existing precedent has not” beyond the debate “the question of whether the publication of a comment on the official website of the district on Facebook is a protected speech of the first amendment, as well as the contours of the proper one that a reasonable official will understand that removing this comment violates this law” The officials said.
Lawyers representing Yardley officials did not answer the request for comment.
In his opinionKearney said that when Yardley officials deleted the comment in October 2022, at least five appeal courts ruled that “” removing or blocking someone from the government’s side in social media is discrimination from the point of view. ”
“This consensus of power is solid enough so that the President of the Council of Thompson and the manager of the Johnson district should know that removing Mr. Markey’s commentary from the official Yardley website on Facebook violated his right to freedom of speech,” Kearney said.
After issuing the decision, Kearney referred the case to the settlement proceedings.
Regardless of the outcome of the process, another showdown is planned.
Thompson is Democratic nomine He won the republican nomination for the mayor of Yardley and Markey As a candidate for writes with 31 votes.
Both will compete at the beginning of November, in court or on the voting card.
