[Durus]

Are you saying that it was a legitimate power of the state and local government? Or that they simply usurped that power from the people?

[ml/nj]

The States (and local governments which are instrumentalities of their respective States) have Constitutions drafted and ratified by their people in whatever manner they chose. Those Constitutions could grant a State government the power restrict the freedom of speech or not; and they did. The First Amendment was only a restriction upon the Federal Government. Quoting from Government by Judiciary by Raoul Berger:

Justice Harlan spoke truly in stating that "every member of the Court for at least the last 135 years has agreed that our Founders did not consider the requirements of the Bill of Rights so fundamental that they should operate directly against the States." [footnote says: Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 173(1968), dissenting opinion in which Justice Stewart concurred.]

I believe the reference to "135 years," dates from Barron v. Baltimore (1833) where Justice Marshall essentially ruled that the States were not bound in any way by the Bill of Rights.

ML/NJ