AZ City Repeals Speech Ban That Got Mom Dragged From Meeting

An Arizona city repealed a rule restricting residents’ public testimony on Tuesday, weeks after a local mother was arrested for speaking at a city council meeting last month.

In a unanimous vote, the Surprise City Council revoked a regulation barring residents from criticizing city officials during public meetings, as a local NBC affiliate reported. According to the outlet, “[m]embers of the council did not speak further about the [new] rule during Tuesday’s meeting” and it remains “unclear when [it] will go into effect.”

The original rule was cited by Mayor Hall during the City Council’s Aug. 20 meeting before he had resident Rebekah Massie forcibly removed. The Arizona mother used the public forum to criticize the city attorney but was stopped mid-testimony by Hall, who accused her of “attacking the city attorney personally” and violating rules governing public meetings.

Massie objected and said the regulation violated her First Amendment rights to free speech but was nonetheless detained by the police officer overseeing the meeting at Hall’s direction. She was arrested and subsequently charged with multiple misdemeanors, as previously reported by The Arizona Republic.

The arrest prompted Massie to file a lawsuit against Hall, the city of Surprise, and the aforementioned police officer earlier this month. Represented by attorneys with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the complaint argued the rule violates her First Amendment rights to free speech.

“When Massie exercised her constitutional right to criticize officials at a City Council meeting, a right ‘high in the hierarchy of First Amendment values,’ … the Council Criticism Policy and Mayor Hall ensured she left the meeting in handcuffs,” the lawsuit reads, claiming such conduct is “an affront to [the] Constitution.”

In a statement provided to The Federalist this week, FIRE Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick said that while the Surprise City Council’s decision to “scrap its unconstitutional rule banning criticism of public officials is the right move,” the “damage has already been done.”

“Twenty-eight days ago, police dragged a local mom out of the meeting for criticizing a city attorney’s pay. Twenty-eight days ago, Mayor Skip Hall abused his power to stifle dissent. This decision comes 28 days too late for Rebekah Massie,” Fitzpatrick said.

FIRE Media Relations Specialist Jack Whitten confirmed to The Federalist that Massie’s lawsuit “remains ongoing.”