During the summer of 2021, residents of Greensboro, Georgia contacted the First Amendment Clinic about the public comment period at city council meetings having been indefinitely shut down in response to community members expressing their views about a controversial city official.
The Clinic wrote to the Greensboro mayor and council members explaining that terminating public comment in order to silence speech on a particular city-related topic or viewpoint was an unconstitutional forum closure that violates the First Amendment.
On Sept. 7, 2021, the City of Greensboro reinstated public comment at city council meetings so that community members may once again express their views about their government officials and other matters of public concern.