U.S. District judge rules Randall violated Lansdowne resident's First Amendment right
U.S. District judge rules Randall violated Lansdowne residents First Amendment right
Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2017 by Sydney Kashiwagi
Loudoun County Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) acted under the color of state law in maintaining her Chair Phyllis J. Randall Facebook page and banning Lansdowne resident Brian Davison from the page overnight, yet Randall violated Davison's First Amendment right under the U.S. and Virginia constitutions in doing so, U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris has ruled in a complex case about free speech in the digital age.
Over the last two years, Davison has filed three separate civil rights lawsuits against the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and Randall, Commonwealths Attorney Jim Plowman (R) and the Loudoun County School Board for either blocking him from their Facebook pages or deleting critical comments he posted.
Last February, Davison was blocked from Randalls Facebook page for roughly eight hours overnight after the Lansdowne resident made critical comments of the Loudoun County School Board and members of their family. ... But the next morning, Randall said she decided to unblock Davison and says she has not blocked him or deleted any comments from him or any other person since that time.
Judge Cacheris, in a ruling today, stated that although Davisons actions were "relatively inconsequential as a practical matter, Randalls action did in fact violate his First Amendment right to free speech.