Mom scores major free-speech victory after Arizona mayor attempted to silence her



An Arizona mother won a major First Amendment victory earlier this week when a justice of the peace dismissed the case against her after she was arrested in connection with publicly criticizing a city official.

On August 20, 32-year-old Rebekah Massie and her 10-year-old daughter attended a city council meeting in Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix. During the public comment portion of the meeting, Massie stood at the podium and slammed city attorney Robert Wingo for accepting a raise despite poor job performance.

As Massie expressed her views on Wingo, Mayor Skip Hall repeatedly interrupted her, insisting that her criticisms of Wingo violated rules regarding public comments at city council meetings. That rule read that "oral communications during the City Council meeting may not be used to lodge charges or complaints against any employee of the City or members of the body."

Massie did not deny that she was violating that rule but insisted that the rule was unconstitutional. "That's a violation of my First Amendment rights," she said during the meeting, as Blaze News previously reported.

After Massie continued speaking in defiance of Hall, the mayor eventually ordered security to arrest her. She was then charged with trespassing, a class 3 misdemeanor, as well as resisting arrest and obstructing government operations, both class 1 misdemeanors. She also claimed the arresting officer threw her to the ground and against a wall during the incident.

At a hearing to formally dismiss the charges on Wednesday, Justice of the Peace Gerald Williams excoriated the city rule proscribing public criticism of officials.

"That policy regulated not just speech; but political speech," Williams wrote, apparently aghast.

"No branch of any federal, state, or local government in this country should ever attempt to control the content of political speech. ... In this case, the government did so in a manner that was objectively outrageous," he continued.

"The Defendant should not have faced criminal prosecution once for expressing her political views."

Williams ultimately decided to dismiss the case with prejudice so that no prosecutor could refile the charges, claiming "justice" demanded such a decision.

'We want to make it crystal clear to governments across the United States that brazenly censoring people and betraying the First Amendment comes with a cost.'

In a statement to Blaze News, Massie expressed "relief" at the ruling and at all the support she has received from other freedom-loving people.

"For more than two months I’ve been living with the threat of punishment and jail time — being taken away from my kids, even — for doing nothing more than criticizing the government," she said, adding, "Free speech still matters in America."

Bret Royle of Feldman Royle, who represented Massie in the case, is also gratified by the court's decision.

"Rebekah should never have been detained, let alone criminally charged, for speaking her mind," Royle said in a statement to Blaze News. "That’s the kind of thing that happens in tyrannical countries but should never happen here. No American should face jail time for exercising their freedom of speech, and we’re relieved the court agreed."

It seems the government recognized that Mayor Hall and others likely overstepped their bounds because both sides wanted the charges against Massie dropped, Williams noted in his decision. Surprise has likewise dropped the rule about publicly criticizing officials.

Massie has also joined forces with FIRE, a legal organization dedicated to protecting free speech, which has since filed a federal lawsuit against the city for the now-defunct rule.

"This is an incredible win for Rebekah and an important message to government bureaucrats around the country that the First Amendment bows to no one," said FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick in a statement in Blaze News. "The fight goes on in Rebekah’s lawsuit against the City of Surprise [and] Mayor Hall. ... We want to make it crystal clear to governments across the United States that brazenly censoring people and betraying the First Amendment comes with a cost."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Judge Tosses ‘Objectively Outrageous’ Charge Against Arizona Mom Arrested For Speaking At City Meeting

An Arizona judge dismissed the criminal case brought against a state resident who was for speaking at a public meeting.

Arizona City Repeals Speech Ban That Got Mom Dragged Out Of Council Meeting After Criticizing Officials

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-18-at-12.01.14 PM.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-18-at-12.01.14%5Cu202fPM.png%22%7D" expand=1]The original rule was cited by Mayor Hall during the City Council's Aug. 20 meeting before he had resident Rebekah Massie forcibly removed.

Arizona Mom Sues City Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Public Meeting Rule Used To Arrest Her

The mom was arrested after she criticized the conduct of the city attorney.

First Amendment Group Says It Plans To Support Arizona Resident Arrested For Speaking At City Meeting

A First Amendment group indicated plans to sue Surprise, Arizona, after its mayor had a resident arrested for speaking at a public meeting.

Arizona mayor has mom arrested after she criticized city official at city council meeting in apparent defiance of rule



An Arizona mayor had a woman arrested at a recent city council meeting after she spoke out against a city attorney in apparent defiance of meeting rules.

On Tuesday, Rebekah Massie, 32, attended the city council meeting in Surprise, Arizona, a city of some 143,000 residents just outside Phoenix. When her turn came to speak during public comments, Massie — described by the Sinclair National Desk as a "Libertarian activist" — took the opportunity to criticize Surprise city attorney Robert Wingo and a raise he had reportedly been given.

'Do not put your hands on me!'

According to Massie, Wingo engaged in "numerous violations, or alleged violations, and in blatant disregard ... for not only the Arizona revised statutes, the state Bar rules of professional conduct, but also the Arizona state Constitution, and the Bill of Rights at the federal level."

Massie then referenced previous election integrity issues and insisted that Wingo "did nothing" about them.

Shortly thereafter, Mayor Skip Hall warned Massie that, by "attacking the city attorney personally," she was apparently violating one of the rules governing public comments. The rule says:

Oral communications during the City Council meeting may not be used to lodge charges or complaints against any employee of the City or members of the body, regardless of whether such person is identified in the presentation by name or by any other reference that tends to identify him/her.

Massie countered that she was sharing only "factual information" and that the rule itself is "unconstitutional."

"That's a violation of my First Amendment rights," she said calmly.

Massie further asserted that she could stand at the podium and shout curse words at Hall for three minutes and that speech would still be "protected" by the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

At that point, Hall became exasperated and threatened to have Massie escorted out of the chamber. While Massie acknowledged that meeting rules forbade her from publicly criticizing city officials, Massie once again argued that the rule was unconstitutional.

"That's your opinion," Hall insisted.

Massie was flabbergasted that Hall would threaten to have her hauled out of the room in front of her 10-year-old daughter, who was in attendance, simply because she had exercised her "First Amendment rights." She also indicated that Mayor Hall may have violated meeting rules about debate.

After more back and forth, a security officer walked over to the podium and attempted to walk Massie out. When she refused, the officer began putting her hands behind her back.

"Do not put your hands on me!" Massie railed.

"Are you kidding me?" she continued. "Why am I being detained? Under what charges?"

The officer then dragged Massie out of the meeting by force as she screamed, and another meeting attendee — perhaps Massie's daughter — quickly left as well, video of the meeting showed.

Massie was later cited for alleged trespassing, a class 3 misdemeanor, as well as for allegedly resisting arrest and obstructing government operations, both class 1 misdemeanors.

Massie claimed that she was never read her Miranda rights and not permitted to contact an attorney, according to Not the Bee. She also accused the arresting officer of throwing her on the ground and against a wall.

"I'm not resisting, my daughter is here, I don't know what's going on, you say I'm being detained, but I don't know what for," Massie said, according to Not the Bee.

The city claimed Miranda rights were not warranted in Massie's case because she had not been interrogated, only cited and released. City officials "remain strong in their stance that the anti-free speech policy isn't a violation of the First Amendment," Not the Bee said.

The entire meeting can be seen here. Massie appears at about the 1:58:04 mark.

H/T: Libs of TikTok

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Horowitz: Amid rioting in Minneapolis, coronavirus cases spike among younger people

Surprise, surprise: Burned-out buildings and increased crime aren’t the only things left in Minneapolis in the wake of the massive rioting over the past few weeks. Now it appears that COVID-19 cases among those ages 20-29 unnaturally spiked right around mid-June, exactly when you would expect them to, given the mass gatherings of protesters and rioters that commenced about one to two weeks before. Where do peaceful, law-abiding Americans go to get their apology after the media promoted lockdown and then went to the other extreme of promoting mass gatherings and super-spreading events to fuel racial strife?

Even though roughly 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota occurred in senior care facilities, those in their 20s now account for more confirmed positive cases than any other age group, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

But the more relevant point is the trend line. There appears to have been a massive spike in cases among those in their 20s right around mid-June. Those in their 20s consistently accounted for roughly 20 percent of all cases going back to the archived reports from May. Yet they now account for 59 percent of the new cases since June 25.

What is shocking and appalling is that the media and politicians are blaming states for gradually and cautiously reopening after the harsh and arbitrary lockdowns as the culprit behind the spike in more cases. MPR News is pinning the blame for the Minnesota spike on the bars. Yet even the most open states never sanctioned mass gatherings. Numerous studies have shown that super-spreader events are responsible for the lion’s share – perhaps 80 percent – of transmission in a country. That’s why Japan, which had a great outcome without a shutdown, was always careful to avoid mass gatherings.

Yet, somehow, we are to believe it’s the reopening of small businesses that is responsible for the spread, not roving and mobile mass gatherings all over the country.

Not only are uncontrolled mass gatherings more likely to spread the illness than small businesses, but the timing makes it clear they are the culprit for the spread in many places. Infection to hospitalization time seems to be about 11-14 days. The gradual reopening began in late April and early May in the southern states, while the rioting began in early June. While very few young people will get seriously ill, those who are older who catch it from them can get sicker. The increase in hospitalizations happened right around when we would expect it, in mid-June.

Obviously, the places we would expect to see the greatest effect are in the states where there was little herd immunity because the virus hadn’t spread much to begin with, which is the case in most southern states. New York City had large riots and protests, but it appears that the virus has already hit a brick wall after infecting and killing so many in NYC in March and April. The population density of the northeast made the virus spread very quickly long before the protests. But in other parts of the country, all bets are off.

Our government is now using its failure to protect us internally from domestic insurrection and externally from cross-border migration as a pretext to reinstitute lockdown. As I noted on Friday, much of the spike in serious cases at the border is the result of cross-border travel and migration that our government failed to shut down. Now we know that much of the spread of milder cases in the interior came from the mass rioting and protesting. The only things that should be shut down are downright encouraged, while we are forced to wear face diapers and our children can’t go to camp after being out of school for months.

We’ve learned something interesting over the past few weeks. People who rob, loot, maim, and burn don’t care about spreading a virus either. Who would have known? The sad thing is that the silent majority of law-abiding Americans are the ones getting blamed for the lawlessness of the mob and the mendacity of the governing elite.