Nancy Murrey-Settle was handcuffed and escorted out of a Jacksonville City Council meeting Tuesday after showing up wearing a shirt supporting congressional candidate L.J. Holloway, and she says the city trampled her constitutional rights in the process. She was placed in a police car, given a citation to appear in court, and told she could not come back into the meeting that night.
Murrey-Settle, who says she attends council meetings regularly, described the shirt as nothing more than passive expression, according to First Coast News. She had emailed the council president beforehand about what she believed were her constitutional rights, and at a previous meeting she had turned the same shirt inside out rather than remove it, after being told she could not speak while wearing it. Meeting video reportedly shows an officer approaching her shortly before public comment began on Tuesday.
City Points to Rules Barring Campaign Gear
City officials say the removal was not arbitrary. Council President Nick Howland asked Michael Fackler of the city office of general counsel to walk through the rules during the meeting, and asked specifically whether Murrey-Settle had been warned and given a chance to change or cover the candidate’s name. Fackler said he had been stationed outside the chamber to inform people entering about two rules governing political activity and their options, and that people could still speak if they covered the shirt. He said Murrey-Settle was offered that option and still refused.
The rules in question include a city code restricting political activity in public spaces where people are working, plus Council Rule 4.505, which defines disruption of a meeting to include “Any form of political campaigning or electioneering regarding a specific candidate or group of candidates in City elections,” according to a copy of the rule published by the City of Jacksonville. Under that same rule, a presiding officer may have a disruptive person “forthwith barred, removed, or otherwise ejected” from the meeting, and the rule warns that “Any person who refuses to leave the City Council Chamber may be subject to arrest.”
Citation Issued, Case Headed to Court
Murrey-Settle says she now faces charges of trespassing and resisting arrest and plans to plead not guilty, maintaining she believes she did nothing wrong. Per First Coast News, police did not bar her from attending future council meetings, and her case is expected to proceed through the court system. She told the outlet she loves her country and Jacksonville but believes her rights are being chipped away…