Fifth Circuit questions Baton Rouge’s ejection of public speakers

Eugene Collins and Louisiana NAACP president Michael McClanahan were removed by police from a 2017 Baton Rouge Metro Council meeting after trying to raise Alton Sterling's police killing during public comment on an agenda item about officer-involved incidents. Collins was cut off seven words and about two and a half seconds into speaking; a federal judge later found their First Amendment rights were violated through viewpoint discrimination, though a third plaintiff, Gary Chambers, lost his claim.

On appeal, the city argues the case became moot when it was earlier dismissed 'with prejudice' as a defendant, and that the mayor pro tem was merely enforcing council rules, not setting policy. The plaintiffs' attorney countered that no one in Baton Rouge's history had been ejected for being off-topic except those criticizing police, and that the city never contested being physically removed from the chamber, not just the microphone.

Judges pressed both sides on whether enforcing someone else's rules can still make an official a 'final policymaker' for constitutional purposes. The Fifth Circuit panel took the case under submission without a ruling date.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.