St. Clair Co., Ill (ECWd) –
During the April 2026 meeting of the St. Clair County Veterans Assistance Commission (“VAC”) Board of Commissioners, the VAC approved a new public comment policy which most assuredly violates the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.
Section 2, paragraph 6 (see page 8) reads as follows:
“Those wishing to provide public comment shall do so with respect and civility and shall not engage in using obscene and vulgar language, fighting words, or defamatory comments.“
The problem we see is this: Who decides which words or phrases obscene, vulgar, or defamatory within the context they are uttered? Would this be considered viewpoint censorship, since one person’s idea of obscene and vulgar, may be another person’s normal way of speaking?
All three are protected speech, which if alleged to be defamatory, should be taken up in the courts and proven, not suppressed during an open public meeting.
The Court, in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission stated [ . . . ] the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.”
In Matal v Tam (2017), Justice Alito said “that the Lanham Act constituted impermissible discrimination based on viewpoint. The law’s prohibition of offensive ideas “strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free-speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate.’”
“When you choose censorship as your substantive argument, you lose the debate.” Lee Rowland, ACLU, (2017) in We All Need To Defend Speech We Hate and Inside Sources.
We urge the VAC to amend its public comment policy to reflect the rights of the public to speak and use the language they wish without fear of unwarranted censorship.
One Response
Thanks for shining a light on this fascism.