'Wildly unconstitutional': Judge trashed for ordering newspaper to remove editorial

A Mississippi judge ordered a local newspaper remove an editorial that criticized city officials.

Chancery court judge Crystal Wise Martin issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday against the Clarksdale Press Register and ordered the newspaper to remove the Feb. 8 editorial, “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust,” from its online portals and make it inaccessible after city officials sued for libel, reported WREG-TV.

"The injury in this case is defamation against public figures through actual malice in reckless disregard of the truth and interferes with their legitimate function to advocate for legislation they believe municipality through this current legislative cycle," wrote Martin, a District 4 chancellor. "The Respondents are well aware of the accusations against them as they have already received a draft of the verified Petition and further notice is not needed until such hearing."

The Press Register's editorial had accused the city's mayor Chuck Espy of not properly notifying the public of a meeting on a proposed 2-percent "sin tax" resolution on alcohol, cannabis and tobacco sent to the state legislature, saying the newspaper and other media outlets were not told about the meeting.

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"Yes, there are deadlines for submitting legislation to Jackson," the editorial stated. "But this tax has been discussed in at least two meetings and has been reported in the pages of your Clarksdale Press Register."

"Have commissioners or the mayor gotten kick-back from the community?" the editorial added. "Until Tuesday we had not heard of any. Maybe they just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea - at public expense. As with all legislation, the devil is in the details and how legislation often morphs into something else that benefits somebody else."

A full hearing is scheduled for the matter on Feb. 27 in Hinds County Chancery Court, and while city attorney Melvin Miller II hailed the temporary restraining order as "a victory for truth," free speech advocates were stunned.

"What the city is doing is wildly unconstitutional," said First Amendment lawyer Adam Steinbaugh, of FIRE.org. "For one, *governments* can't sue for libel. Full stop."

Steinbaugh added that prior restraint, or censorship, by a government or institution is almost never possible.

"If there were only one thing the First Amendment says you can't do, it's this," Steinbaugh said. "The city going to the legislature for permission for a tax increase is not like the secret movements of soldiers during wartime. And the editorial appears to be... true? The city itself submitted an affidavit from the clerk admitting that she just plum forgot to notify the media (as required by state law. Whoops!"

"The city resents the suggestion it was trying to hide something by calling a special meeting and not telling the media," Steinbaugh added. "But that's *opinion,* not a false statement of fact. And by suing over an editorial, the city's proving them right."

Others agreed and questioned the judge's ruling in the case.

"This decision by Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin is abhorrent," said journalist A.J. Perez. "Does [University of Mississippi Law School] not teach the First Amendment? The City of Clarksdale should feel ashamed even filing this TRO, let alone Judge Martin going along with it."

"C'mon everyone and read the editorial Clarksdale, Mississippi city officials don't want you to see," added Steinbaugh's FIRE colleague Alex Morey.