An Arizona woman is suing the city of Surprise for arresting and charging her with trespassing during last month’s city council meeting after she openly criticized a government lawyer’s proposed pay raise.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free-speech advocacy group, filed the federal lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of Surprise resident Rebekah Massie, alleging city leaders violated her First Amendment rights. On August 20, Massie began complaining about how much money a city attorney was making. Before she could finish making her case, Surprise mayor Skip Hall interrupted and read a city rule stating citizens could not orally “lodge charges or complaints against any employee of the City” during a public-comment period.
The recorded exchange went viral on social media over the past two weeks and has since gained the attention of local and national media alike. When Massie refused to leave, a police officer forcefully escorted her out of the room under the mayor’s orders. Massie’s ten-year-old daughter was present.
Mayor Hall is facing calls to resign, most notably in a letter to the editor written by co-plaintiff Quintus Schulzke, prior to the end of Hall’s term on December 31. He also received sharp words from his successor, Surprise mayor-elect Kevin Sartor.
“As Americans, our right to free speech is fundamental, especially when it comes to holding our government accountable,” Sartor said in a condemnatory statement on his campaign website last week. “What happened to Rebekah Massie is unacceptable. No citizen should ever be arrested for voicing their concerns, especially in a forum specifically designed for public input.”
FIRE’s lawsuit says the Phoenix suburb violated Massie’s rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. To remediate the issue, Massie seeks monetary damages and demands a trial by jury.
“I wanted to teach my children the importance of standing up for their rights and doing what is right — now I’m teaching that lesson to the city,” Massie said. “It’s important to fight back to show all of my children that the First Amendment is more powerful than the whims of any government official.”
Schulzke signed onto the lawsuit as a concerned plaintiff afraid to vocally criticize Surprise officials, knowing he too could be arrested for exercising his free-speech rights. He is currently withholding complaints against officials during Surprise city council meetings until the matter is resolved in court.
Mayor Hall promised that “any time you attack any staff member” or city official, speakers will be “escorted out” now and “in the future.” In addition to Surprise and Hall, Steven Shernicoff, the police officer who arrested Massie, is listed as a defendant. The city of Surprise declined to comment on the pending litigation.
“FIRE is representing Rebekah because no American should face arrest for criticizing public officials,” FIRE attorney Conor Fitzpatrick told National Review. “Public officials are elected to serve the people, not silence them.”
The city’s Council Criticism Policy, which Hall cited, reads as follows: “Oral communications during the City Council meeting may not be used to lodge charges or complaints against any employee of the City or members of the body, regardless of whether such person is identified in the presentation by name or by any other reference that tends to identify him/her. Any such charges or complaints should be submitted during normal business hours to the City Manager for appropriate action.”
The rule, while it prohibits complaints, encourages “praise and neutral speech” about government officials during city council meetings, the lawsuit says.
The document notes how Massie respectfully yet pointedly aired her grievances about the city attorney’s pay increase. During the said meeting, Massie herself said she was only sharing “factual information” with the council and public. In response, Hall said it “doesn’t matter.”
The suit aims to permanently prevent enforcement of the Council Criticism Policy. While the case remains pending, FIRE requested a court order to temporarily end the city’s use of the unconstitutional policy.
Fitzpatrick, who is representing Massie and Schulzke alongside Tucson-based attorney Daniel Quigley, explained that punishing someone for criticizing the government is “regrettably” more common in the U.S. than one might think.
“For example, right now we are representing Priscilla Villarreal in the Supreme Court,” he said. A citizen journalist, Villarreal was arrested in Laredo, Texas, for asking an officer to confirm information she obtained from other sources. Nearly five years after the complaint was brought, FIRE filed a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision in Villarreal’s case.
Meanwhile, the Surprise case has some precedent in a prior case FIRE had already won this year. In April, four residents of Eastpointe, Mich., successfully sued the city and its former mayor after they were silenced for criticizing the elected official during the public-comment period of a 2022 city council meeting.
Eastpointe agreed to settle the lawsuit on the following terms: scrapping its policy that prohibited public comments “directed at” elected officials, formally apologizing for the then-mayor’s actions, paying damages and fees, and commemorating September 6 as an annual “First Amendment Day” in the local area.
Given the recent victory in southeast Michigan, the FIRE team believes it can win the Surprise case.
“The First Amendment right to peacefully criticize government officials during the public comment segment of a city council meeting is crystal clear,” Fitzpatrick said. “We are confident that, like in Eastpointe, the First Amendment will prevail.”