Charlottesville resident Joseph Draego won a First Amendment lawsuit he filed against the Charlottesville City Council. During a meeting last June, the council cut Draego off when his comments regarding Muslim immigrants became offensive.
The City Council has since received an injunction from the court to remove their policy of prohibiting group defamation in city council meetings.
Court documents contained transcripts of Draego’s discourse at the meeting, where he engaged in an altercation with City Council member Kristin Szakos when she urged him to remember children may be watching the council’s meeting.
“Well, I’m keeping in mind that there are children here in this community that need to be protected from your reckless policies,” Draego said in the meeting.
After his speaking time had run out, Draego returned to speak during an open comment period. When he began insulting Muslims, Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer called for a vote to remove Draego from the meeting room.
“At that point, as police officers approached, Plaintiff lay prone on the ground in front of the lectern,” court documents said. “The police officers obliged, dragging Plaintiff from the meeting hall by his arms as some citizens in attendance applauded.”
Attorney Jeff Fogel, who represented Draego until U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon ruled for an injunction against the city, said this was not the first time the city has violated First Amendment rights. In 2013, the court heard a case ruling in favor of panhandlers asking for money on the Downtown Mall following a city ordinance prohibiting panhandling within 50 feet of traffic crossings.
“Through a lot of years of litigation, the court said you can’t prohibit them from engaging in speech or soliciting donations just because you find it offensive,” Fogel said.
Fogel said while Draego’s comments were offensive, they were not disruptive of the meeting proceedings nor did they threaten anyone, demonstrating the council did not have the right to cut him off.
“The only reason the city really stopped this gentleman was because he found his comments offensive,” Fogel said. “That hardly is standard on which to prohibit people from speaking.”
As for the City Council, it will have to remove the provision on restricting “group defamation” speech at council meetings as a primary injunction. However, Fogel said he believes the court will permanently prohibit the City Council from this kind of restriction in future proceedings.
“They cannot enforce the provision that prohibits what they call ‘group defamation,’” he said. “I have no doubt that this will get transformed into a permanent injunction.”
Fogel is no longer working with Draego and said he does not definitively know what steps Draego will take moving forward.
“He will want to pursue damages, but that's just my guess,” Fogel said.
He recommended the City Council listen to more Charlottesville residents before passing policies like this again. Fogel said he too, among many other members of the community, opposed the “group defamation” policy when it was being instated, but their arguments were rejected by the City Council.
“Hopefully they’ll also learn that there are citizens in our community who have some expertise in areas that they don’t, and that maybe it would be wise for them to listen to them,” Fogel said.
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