A Win for "We The Public"

Virginia Attorney-General Mark Herring has provided We The Public in Virginia with a strong defense against public officials at all levels who would attempt to stifle our First Amendment right to free speech. Herring’s April 15, 2016 Opinion provides constitutional cover for members of the public who speak publicly during the public comment portions of public meetings such as county Board of Supervisors meetings and School Board meetings.

Some elected boards have at times attempted to curtail and/or censor any and all public remarks about specific government employees during the Public Comment segments of their meeting agendas.

For me as an Albemarle County taxpayer, First Amendment advocate, former radio and weekly newspaper reporter, former elected official (and current appointed government official), and dues-paying member of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, I applaud the Attorney-General’s recent opinion in favor of We The Public.

You can read the AG’s opinion against “blanket prohibitions” on free speech at public meetings at this URL:

http://www.opengovva.org/attorney-general-opinion-15-020morris

This absolutely correct ruling stems from an unconstitutional practice related to public comment before the Franklin City School Board. Herring’s ruling is in response to a request for an AG’s Opinion from House of Delegates member Rick Morris of Carrollton.

In layman’s terms, what Attorney-General Herring has clarified is that a Board of Supervisors or a School Board, for example, cannot stop a member of the public from making remarks — positive, negative, or neutral — about specific employees, by name, during Public Comment portions of public meeting agendas. To do so — in my words — is government policing, selecting, or editing a speaker’s content — and that is unconstitutional.

It will be interesting now to see how aware the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and the Albemarle School Board are of this Attorney-General’s Opinion on free speech and if they actually practice what the AG has preached.

Tomorrow, shortly after 1 p.m. at their May monthly day meeting, the Albemarle Supervisors get their first opportunity/test.

The Albemarle BOS will still be able to enforce their rule that public speakers address comments "to the Board as a whole,” but they won’t be able to stop We The Public from talking about who we want to talk about by name if we choose to do so.

By the way, see also an excellent, locally-oriented commentary on the AG’s opinion by Rob Schilling of WINA’s The Schilling Show at this URL:

http://www.schillingshow.com/2016/04/20/signers-folly-ag-herring-strikes-unconstitutional-public-meeting-speech-limitations/