Massachusetts Upholds the Right to Be Rude at Public Meetings

The right to be rude in public meetings was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The case originated with a lawsuit filed against the town of Southborough in which a resident said selectmen had unlawfully asked her to leave a town meeting in 2018 after she correctly accused the board of violating open meeting laws. Louise Barron, who filed the suit in 2020, was cut off in the meeting by former board member Daniel Kolenda, who accused her of “slander.” “Look, you need to stop being a Hitler,” Barron replied, according to The New York Times. “You’re a Hitler. I can say what I want.” In its ruling, the state’s high court found Southborough’s “civility code”—which stipulates that discourse at public meetings should be “free of rude, personal or slanderous remarks”—was unconstitutional. The court said that while the Hitler comment was “certainly rude and insulting,” it was protected speech. “Although civility can and should be encouraged in political discourse, it cannot be required,” the justices wrote.