A judge in Arizona dismissed a state resident’s legal case on Wednesday after she criticized her city government in a public meeting.
Justice of the Peace Gerald Williams wrote,” The Defendant should not have faced legal prosecution again for expressing her political perspectives.”
Sarah Massie, a citizen of Surprise, addressed the city council during a public meeting on August 20th, the start of the saga. The Arizona family was criticizing the conduct of the city lawyer when she was immediately cut off by Mayor Skip Hall, who accused her of “attacking” the city national “personally” and violating , rules , governing people sessions.
Massie claimed the law was “unconstitutional” and that by limiting her evidence, the city was violating her First Amendment right to free speech. After a brief exchange of words, Hall requested Massie’s removal from the conference by calling a law enforcement official.
The mother of Arizona was later detained and accused of trespass.
Williams dismissed Massie’s command with discrimination in a written statement from the Maricopa County Justice Courts, thereby preventing the state from reversing the case. The judge noted that” ]n ] o branch of any federal, state, or local government in this country should ever attempt to control the content of political speech”, and that, in Massie’s case,” the government did so in a manner that was objectively outrageous”.
” The Court agrees that she should never experience judicial trial, for expressing her political opinions on that day at that time, again”, Williams wrote.
The Maricopa judge further described the “problems” with the rule cited by Hall before Massie was arrested, namely that the policy “regulated not just speech, but political speech” (emphasis original ) and specifically the” content” of that political speech. As The Federalist reported, the Surprise City Council universally repealed the law during its Sept. 17 meeting.
” For more than two weeks, I’ve been living with the threat of punishment and prison time, yet being taken away from my boys,” Massie said in a speech. ” Free speech still matters in America, and I ca n’t tell you how wonderful it is when people on my side stand up for our rights with me.”
In a complaint filed by Surprise, Hall, and the officer who detained her last month, Massie claimed that the city had violated her First Amendment right.
Shawn Fleetwood is a University of Mary Washington student and a staff author for The Federalist. He previously served as a condition content writer for Agreement of States Action and his work has been featured in various stores, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Following him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood