A judge is considering when and if it's legal for a state legislator to ban a constituent from a legislative Facebook page. Other courts have split on the topic, and the verdict could set a precedent for interpreting the Alaska Constitution online.
Attorneys representing McDow and Reinbold agree on the basic facts: In 2021, McDow commented disparagingly on several of Reinbold’s posts on her “Senator Lora Reinbold” Facebook page. She also criticized the words of other commenters.
McDow criticized Reinbold’s remarks, saying in part that “Reinbold is attracting a lot of conspiracy theorists,” and told her to “stop whining and do her job.” One of McDow’s attorneys, Nicolas Feronti, told Matthews that the three-part test — action by a government employee, in a public setting, and viewpoint discrimination — is key to establishing whether Reinbold violated the free-speech rights guaranteed by the Alaska Constitution.
“Facebook is a house, and she’s just a tenant leasing it,” she said, arguing that Reinbold’s page was not an official government page.
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