Fifth Circuit reviews whether Baton Rouge officials silenced speakers at council meeting
The Fifth Circuit is examining if the removal of two community leaders from a 2017 Baton Rouge Metro Council session violated their First Amendment rights.
At a Baton Rouge Metro Council meeting in May 2017, community activists Eugene Collins and Michael McClanahan attempted to link agenda items on officer-involved incidents to the 2016 police killing of Alton Sterling. Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wilson directed police to remove them; Collins spoke for about two and a half seconds, while McClanahan was cut off mid-sentence. A district judge later found the removals violated the First Amendment, but dismissed the city as a defendant with prejudice, leaving the case against former Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Noel.
On Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit heard arguments about whether the dismissal renders the claims moot and whether Noel, as a chair, acted as a policymaker or merely enforced existing council rules. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued the city’s dismissal should not erase the trial’s findings, while the city contended the issue is irrelevant. The panel took the matter under submission without setting a decision date.
Why it matters
The case could clarify limits on officials' power to control speech at public meetings.
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