California Official’s Facebook Block Violated First Amendment

A California school board member infringed upon a married couple’s First Amendment rights when she blocked them from posting comments on her social media pages, the Ninth Circuit affirmed.

California school board member Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff hid or deleted critical comments on her pages on Facebook and the site formerly known as Twitter, before eventually blocking the couple. O’Connor-Ratcliff had authority to speak on the state’s behalf, and purported to exercise that authority when she blocked the comments, the Judge Marsha S. Berzon of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in a Wednesday opinion.

Public officials have ...