ARLINGTON, Va.—Today, the Institute for Justice (IJ) sent a letter to city officials in Riverview, Missouri, calling on them rescind an illegal subpoena, and cease all retaliatory actions against James Carroll, an Illinois man, who published a joke online about Riverview Mayor Michael Cornell. Joking about elected officials is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, making Riverview’s attempt to punish James a flagrant violation of his constitutional rights and an affront to a core tenet of American democracy. 

“The First Amendment is a bulwark against thin-skinned government officials abusing their authority to punish their critics,” said IJ attorney Ben Field. “You can understand why an elected official would be tempted to retaliate against somebody making a joke at their expense, which is why the Constitution stands in their way.”  

James wrote his joke poking fun at Cornell on the website Nextdoor in early April. Days later, on April 15, and again on April 16, James found a subpoena on his door from the city of Riverview. The subpoena demanded James appear at a Riverview meeting to testify on several allegations, including that he cyber bullied Riverview residents, threatened a city official, and that he defamed someone’s character. Based on the allegations listed in the subpoena and its timing, Cornell and the city of Riverview appear to be retaliating against James for his protected speech.  

Instead of complying with the subpoena, James sued the city to quash the subpoena. The hearing to decide that motion will be held tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the St. Louis County Court in Clayton. 

The First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring protected speech. That includes retaliating against the speaker. The courts have been clear about this issue. In a very similar case to this—one which IJ argued—the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a joke published online was fully protected by the First Amendment. The Court stated, “[t]he First Amendment’s protections apply to jokes, parodies, satire, and the like, whether clever or poor taste.” In that case, Louisiana native Waylon Bailey wrote a joke on Facebook poking fun at his local sheriff’s office. In response, the sheriff’s office assembled a SWAT team to arrest Waylon on the grounds that his joke constituted terrorism. The Fifth Circuit, and a later a jury, held that unconstitutional. 

IJ is a national nonprofit law firm with an expertise in defending Americans’ free speech rights. IJ fought and won a similar case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, and has fought retaliation in more than half a dozen states including Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.