Court Rules That First Amendment Limits, But Does Not Nullify, Public Officials' Ability To Block Online Critics

In Packingham v. North Carolina, 137 S. Ct. 1730, 1735 (U.S. 2017) the Supreme Court of the United States held that N.C.G.S. § 14-202.5, a North Carolina statute that barred registered sex offenders from websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn was unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy wrote that social media enabled citizens to "petition their elected representatives and otherwise engage with them in a direct manner". At the time, we noted that Packingham was not going to be the last word on the First Amendment implications of social media restrictions.

That became clear last week when Judge James Cacheris, a federal district court judge in Alexandria, Virginia ruled that a Loudoun County Supervisor could not block a constituent on Facebook. Chairwoman Phyllis Randall used her Facebook page to discuss public affairs ranging from lauding the life-saving efforts of Loudon police officers to meetings of the Board of Supervisors. Many of the posts were expressly addressed