Recent disruptions at Corpus Christi City Council meetings have raised questions about the balance between maintaining order and protecting free speech, leading KRIS 6 to consult a First Amendment expert for clarity.
At a recent meeting, an Aransas Pass man was removed after he refused to state his name and city, as required by council rules, and later cursed at the mayor. Several speakers later, a Corpus Christi was removed for failing to comply with the same rules.
First Amendment expert weighs in on legality of Corpus Christi rules of decorum
Amy Sanders, the John and Anne Curley Professor of First Amendment at Penn State who previously spent six years at the University of Texas at Austin, explained that while the public has a right to comment, that right has limits. Texas Government Code 551.007, established in 2019, grants the public the right to testify at local meetings.
However, according to Sanders, government entities are permitted to create “reasonable rules” that could include something like how long a person can speak or restricting someone to speaking just to agenda items only…