Raucous meetings since the pandemic prompted the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to institute a change in rules governing public comments. But a local watchdog group is suing the county, alleging the modifications violate free speech rights.
San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas speaking at the Board of Supervisors meeting, March 14, 2023.
The nonprofit San Diego-based Project for Open Government is suing the county, alleging that the changes made in November 2022 were unconstitutional.“I don't agree with the reprehensible and just repugnant comments by people at times,” said Project for Open Government President Mat Wahlstrom. “But they overreacted.”
Briggs frequently sues local municipalities and has been criticized for starting multiple nonprofits to file those lawsuits. Public comments at supervisors’ meetings have grown more uncivil since 2021, a year into the pandemic, according to a KPBS analysis. Citizens openly mocked supervisors, swore at them and had routinely accused them of engaging in criminal conduct, such as murder and trafficking, and alleged they’re pushing a “satanic agenda.
“If the public comment is getting out of hand, they can certainly limit the amount of time that they're going to devote to public comments,” Chemerinsky said. “But the difficulty is that they can't say we're going to have a civility code for how to speak. They can't say no profanities. They can't say no ethnic or racial slurs because that's protected by the First Amendment.
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