Since government agencies cannot suffer First Amendment rights violations, the Texas attorney general said that they cannot particpate in a case against the state’s open meetings law. City council members are contesting the law saying their free speech rights are being denied as the law prohibits government officials from conducting business in secret. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
February 3, 2010
By Miranda Fleschert
Fifteen individual elected officials and the cities of Pfugerville, Rockport, Alpine and Wichita Falls filed suit against the State of Texas and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in December challenging the constitutionality of the state’s open meetings law, which prevents a quorum of government officials from deliberating behind closed doors and attaches a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for doing so.
As “creatures of the state” cities “may not assert constitutional claims against the state,” Abbott argued in a motion to dismiss the municipalities from the lawsuit.
The lawsuit mirrors a recent federal case that became moot after the Alpine city council members seeking to overturn the law no longer held office. Attorneys for the previous plaintiffs have taken on the new case free of charge.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a brief with the Fifth Circuit that supported the constitutionality of the open meetings law during the first case.
Copyright 2010 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press