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For any parent frustrated by restrictive commenting rules at local school board meetings, the good news is that a federal judge in Maine is standing tall for your First Amendment rights. School boards can set reasonable and neutral commenting rules to keep the proceedings on track, but they can’t selectively enforce vague prohibitions to silence public dissent. U.S. District Judge Stacey D. Neumann has ruled largely in favor of Nicholas “Corn Pop” Blanchard against the Augusta, Maine, Board of Education on his motion
for a preliminary injunction. Specifically, she has enjoined the school board from enforcing a number of rules that infringe on the rights of citizens while Mr. Blanchard’s case against the board proceeds. The Institute for Free Speech, which represented Mr. Blanchard along with local counsel David Gordon and Stephen Smith, shares the welcome details: The judge’s order forbids the Augusta Board of Education from enforcing key provisions of its public comment policy barring “gossip,” “abusive” language, and
“vulgar” language, ruling that each constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination or is impermissibly vague. The court also blocked the policy’s sweeping ban on “complaints or allegations” about school employees in its entirety, finding its terms too subjective and inconsistently applied to survive constitutional scrutiny. Board members used those provisions to silence citizens who criticized the board and its employees. Mr. Blanchard and his lawyers argue that he was constantly interrupted when criticizing the board and the school system, but people offering praise were allowed to continue speaking.
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