The ACLU of Rhode Island today announced the favorable settlement of a federal lawsuit that challenged, as a violation of the First Amendment, Smithfield School District’s actions in blocking a local school critic from the official X (formerly Twitter) accounts of the district and the school district superintendent. As a result of the settlement, the school district has agreed to unblock all individuals from the official X accounts and make both accounts public.
The lawsuit was filed less than a month ago by ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys David Cass and Lynette Labinger on behalf of Smithfield resident Daniel Mayer. Mayer had regularly viewed and interacted with Superintendent Dawn Bartz’s X account page to stay informed about issues that Bartz addressed in her official capacity. Last August, his X account was blocked from following and viewing her posts after he advocated for Bartz’s resignation. Since then, both Bartz and the school district changed their X accounts to require all people to seek approval in order to gain access to them.
Under the joint stipulation dismissing the lawsuit, the school district:
- Acknowledges that the plaintiff and all other accounts that the school district had previously banned from @SmithfieldSuper and @SmithfieldSchls X pages have now been unblocked;
- Agrees that no other users will be blocked from @SmithfieldSuper and @SmithfieldSchls X accounts “based on First Amendment-protected viewpoints expressed”;
- Agrees that the school district will no longer require pre-approval for people to gain access to @SmithfieldSuper and @SmithfieldSchls X accounts; and
- Will pay $12,000 in attorneys’ fees and court costs.
The lawsuit argued that the censorship violated Mayer’s First Amendment rights “to speak and to petition the government for redress of grievances.” Both accounts are used to announce and describe school district policies and office operations; to share content produced for the town’s schools; and to communicate with constituents. The lawsuit noted that as official accounts of the school district, access to them cannot be limited based on the identity or viewpoint of the individual seeking access.
ACLU cooperating attorney Cass said today: “Blocking a constituent from expressing their opinions on the basis of their identity or viewpoint undermines their fundamental First Amendment right to speak and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Thankfully, with the assistance of counsel for the Smithfield School Committee, we were able to achieve a quick resolution to the constitutionally inappropriate social media limitations that had been imposed by the Smithfield School Department and Superintendent.”
A copy of the complaint and the settlement agreement can be found here.
