U.S. District Court rules local government may not restrict Free Speech during declared emergencies

U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico ^ | 04/04/2023

[cll]

This is a pre-enforcement action by journalists Sandra Rodríguez-Cotto and Rafelli González-Cotto to enjoin, under the First Amendment, Article 5.14(a) of the Law of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety, Law No. 20 of 2017, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 25, §§ 3501, et seq. (“Law 20”), which criminalizes some types of speech after the Governor has decreed a state of emergency or disaster in the Commonwealth. 1 For the reasons explained below, the challenged provision cannot be enforced. As drafted, it does not pass muster under the First Amendment.

BACKGROUND

Law 20 creates the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety. See, P.R. Laws Ann. tit., 25 § 3503. It addresses various organizational and functional aspects of the Department’s operation and includes a proviso related to states of emergency, catastrophes, and disasters. Id. at § 3654. To this end, as originally enacted as part of Law 20, Article 5.14(a) made it a crime to raise a false alarm in relation to the imminent occurrence of a catastrophe in Puerto Rico or, if there was a declared state of emergency or disaster, to spread rumors or raise a false alarm regarding non-existing abnormalities. See, Docket No. 24-1. On April 6, 2020, the Legislature amended Article 5.14 to add paragraph (f), which made it a crime to transmit or allow another person to transmit by any means, through any social network or mass media, false information with the intention of creating confusion, panic or collective public hysteria, regarding any proclamation or executive order decreeing a state of emergency, disaster or curfew. Id. Plaintiffs challenged these provisions, essentially alleging that they were overbroad and imposed an impermissible content-based restriction on speech.

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"The government errs, because, on its face, it directly points to and criminalizes a type of speech: that which it does not agree to".

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I know we have bigger fish to fry today, but in the meantime:

Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.

[Clemenza]

PR’s government overreacted to COVID more than any other jurisdiction other than its neighbor the USVI. While being on an island that is underserved in terms of doctors and hospitals makes some of the reaction understandable, there was no reason last year in April 2022 (when I was there) for either the government or the citizenry to call for continued mask mandates especially because those cheap ass thin masks that people on the island were wearing do not, cannot and are not intended to prevent the spread of aerosol viruses. The reason I mention this is that I am willing to bet that this law was indeed applied against anyone who criticized the COVIDiocy that ran rampant on the island.

[cyclotic]

Larry Hogan is saddened.

That moron actually told a state Delegate in writing that if he attempted to leave his home to speak at an “illegal” freedom rally where we were redressing a grievance with the government, he would be arrested.

The Delegate stayed home and put the finishing touches on a federal lawsuit against said Governor.

The corrupt judge just sat on it and took zero action.