Civility in Government Meetings: Balancing First Amendment, Reputational Interests, and Efficiency 10 First Amendment Law Review 2011-2012

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10 First Amend. L. Rev. 57 (2011-2012)
Civility in Government Meetings: Balancing First Amendment, Reputational Interests, and Efficiency

handle is hein.journals/falr10 and id is 59 raw text is: CIVILITY IN GOVERNMENT MEETINGS:
BALANCING FIRST AMENDMENT,
REPUTATIONAL INTERESTS, AND EFFICIENCY
BY TERRI DAY* & ERIN BRADFORD**
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION ................................... ....... 57
II. CITIZENS' SPEECH CLASHES WITH GOVERNMENT BUSINESS AND
SENSIBILITIES ..................................... ...... 62
III. A SURVEY OF OPEN MEETING LAWS
AND RULES OF DECORUM.................. ............... 69
IV. CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO PUBLIC COMMENT
SESSIONS ............................................... 74
A. Forum Analysis........................ 75
B. Government Employees' Speech Rights in Public
Comment Sessions ..................... 84
C. Protecting Reputational and Privacy Interests ........... 88
V. GUIDELINES FOR ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING RULES OF
DECORUM ........................................ ...... 94
VI. CONCLUSION ........................................ ....... 97
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowhere is the American ideal of We the People democracy
more realized than at the level of local government. Government in the
*Professor of Law, Barry University Dwayne 0. Andreas School of Law;
LL.M. 1995, Yale University; J.D. 1991, University of Florida; M.S.S.A. 1976, Case
Western Reserve University; B.A. 1974, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The
genesis of this article stems from an invitation I received from the Martin County,
Florida, School Board to discuss First Amendment principles as they relate to public
comment sessions. Much appreciation to the Martin County School Board and its
attorney, Doug Griffin, for the opportunity to speak on these issues.