Bohanan v. Robinson

Douglas County, Georgia resident Brenda Bohanan was blocked from County Commissioner Kelly G. Robinson’s Facebook Page after she posted comments in an online political discussion group that were critical of the Commissioner’s responses to his constituents’ concerns.

Courts have consistently held that when government officials use online platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) to communicate with the public about their official role and activities, and allow members of the public to post comments, this creates a designated or limited public forum.  As Clinic Director Clare R. Norins explained to the Douglas County Sentinel: “Even though it’s online, it’s still a forum where people can interact with the politician or the elected official. They can a) express their own views and b) receive information from the elected official about the official’s views.”

It is a First Amendment violation for a government official, acting in their official capacity, to block a public citizen from participating in an open forum for online dialogue because of disagreement with or dislike of the citizen’s expressed viewpoint.  This is because, under the First Amendment, government regulation of private speech must be viewpoint-neutral.

Pursuant to the settlement initially obtained in Ms. Bohanan’s case by the First Amendment Clinic and co-counsel Gerry Weber, she and others blocked by Commissioner Robinson were to be unblocked and restored to access to the Commissioner’s Facebook Page.  The settlement also required that, going forward, the Commissioner would not unconstitutionally exclude members of the public from his Facebook Page or delete their comments.

Commissioner Robinson subsequently violated the settlement agreement by not unblocking Ms. Bohanan from his Page.  He instead changed the username, and therefore the URL, of the Page — from which Ms. Bohanan remained blocked — and removed some, but by no means all, of the official content from the publicly accessible Page.

On June 22, 2020, the First Amendment Clinic and co-counsel Weber filed a lawsuit against Commissioner Robinson on behalf of Ms. Bohanan seeking declaratory and injunctive relief for the violation of Ms. Bohanan’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and asserting breach of the settlement agreement.

After the lawsuit was filed, Commissioner Robinson converted his Facebook Page to a private setting and unblocked Ms. Bohanan so that she can see that the Page exists but cannot access its content.  Based on these newly arisen facts, the Commissioner moved to dismiss Ms. Bohanan’s complaint.

On September 11, 2020, the Clinic and Mr. Weber filed an amended complaint re-asserting free-speech claims based on Commissioner Robinson having blocked Ms. Bohanan when his Page was publicly accessible and adding a new First Amendment claim based on the Commissioner’s closing a virtual public forum for a viewpoint-discriminatory purpose.  The amended complaint also continued to assert breach of the earlier settlement agreement.

On October 12, 2020, the Commissioner moved to dismiss the amended complaint, which the Clinic and co-counsel opposed.

The case settled in November 2020 with provisions protecting the free-speech rights of Ms. Bohanan and other members of the public, and payment of damages, including attorneys fees.

Further Press Articles
AllOnGeorgia.com article – July 14, 2020
AllOnGeorgia.com article – August 13, 2020

If you have been blocked from a government entity’s or public official’s social media account that is otherwise open for public view and comment, please contact the First Amendment Clinic for consultation.