Marine Sues San Diego "Ruby Ridge" Sheriff Over FB Censorship - Sheriff Shuts Down Page

On Oct. 27, Dimitrios Karras, filed a lawsuit in San Diego federal court claiming his First Amendment rights were violated the San Diego Sheriff’s Dept. deleted two of his Facebook posts that were critical of Sheriff Bill Gore. He was then banned from commenting further.

Most Govt. entities are using social media so what protections, if any, do they have from free speech? That remains to be seen. While some argue social media is equivalent to any public forum others disagree.

In a report by  U-T San Diego,

Karras’ lawyers say sites like Facebook are the new public forum, similar to a town hall or a protest in a park, and as long as government agencies are opening up the floor for public comment, then all citizens should be allowed to voice their opinions. A similar lawsuit in Hawaii, believed to be the first to tackle this issue, was settled, with the Honolulu Police Department agreeing to allow unrestricted posting.

“They must allow speech to be heard, even if it’s obnoxious,” said Karras’ attorney, Scott McMillan. “Unless it’s something egregious, they have limited latitude in censoring.”

On September 3, in a thread about braking for school buses, Karras,  using a soc-puppet name “Jim Block”, posted,

“Sheriff Gore: Do you plead the 5th about your involvement in the MURDER of an unarmed woman who was holding her baby? REMEMBER RUBY RIDGE.”

Sheriff Gore was one of the aggressors in the historical stand-off at Ruby Ridge.

Senior Deputy County Counsel Thomas Bunton argues Karras did not follow the rules posted in the group and writes in court papers,

“There is no doubt that the Sheriff can constitutionally regulate the comments that are made on his Facebook page.”

Bunton points out a federal court ruling that states,

“The government may limit the forum to certain groups or subjects — although it may not discriminate on the basis of viewpoint.”

The Sheriff’s Dept. shut down their page in order to avoid costs. The chair of the technology, media and communications at Proskauer law firm in New York, said the Sheriff’s Department imay be protected under the Communications Decency Act. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

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