Rights not asserted are rights lost. If we acquiesce in abuses of governmental power, we become complicit in those actions. And then one day we wake up and wonder, “Where did America go?”

I am suing Jefferson County because it is violating my First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. It has censored my comments from a public forum it has created. It wants to control the dialogue and fabricate an impression of unity and consensus, when, in fact, the reality is many of us dissent from what our elected and appointed officials are doing with the powers we have given them.

On Monday, November 23, 2020, I filed suit in the United States District Court for Western Washington. I am the sole plaintiff. The defendant is Jefferson County. I seek only $1 dollar in nominal damages. What I want is for Jefferson County to treat the public forum it has created through its official page as the public forum it is, subject to all the protections citizens would enjoy were it any other public forum, such as a town hall meeting, the sidewalks of our community or the steps of the courthouse. I want them to follow the law and not engage in viewpoint discrimination.

For this lawsuit I must thank those people who successfully sued President Donald Trump for blocking them from his Twitter feed. He violated their First Amendment rights by discriminating against them in access to the public forum he had created. He did so based on the content of their speech–which sometimes was extremely, shall we say, extreme. But even the President does not have the right to prevent speech because he does not like what he might hear or see, or because he wants to prevent others from hearing viewpoints he disfavors.

That case was Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University versus Trump. The decision from the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was delivered just a little over a year ago. President Trump lost and was ordered to unblock plaintiffs. The decision has since been used to reverse similar unconstitutional conduct by elected officials at the other end of the political spectrum from President Trump, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

Isn’t America seriously the best?

The Second Circuit applied very clear rulings by the United States Supreme Court that government does not operate in a Constitution-free zone on the Internet. Our public squares are now Twitter, Facebook and increasingly Parler, MeWe and Gab. This is where government faces citizens, and where citizens share their views and deeply held beliefs with other citizens. What President Trump did is what Jefferson County has done to me–and others, as I am learning since news of my lawsuit was reported on the unofficial Jefferson County Washington Facebook page.

The official Facebook page of Jefferson County government is not to be confused with the Facebook news outlet called “Jefferson County Washington.” That page is sponsored by Joe D’Amico and written mostly by Patrick Sullivan, former editor of the Port Townsend Leader. I have no problem with them excluding me if that is what they want to do. That is a private forum. The government’s page is a public forum. That makes a world of difference.

I discovered that whoever administers the Jefferson County Government Facebook page had blocked me, and had also deleted at least one comment I had posted relating to COVID-19. So I got a lawyer to stop this practice and make a point of constitutional law that will prevent county government from censoring anyone else.

My lawyer is Greg Overstreet, a former Washington Special Assistant Attorney General. He has run a multi-state litigation group and has nearly three decades of legal experience, including years of experience suing Jefferson County. My case will help him launch a new public interest legal effort called the Jefferson County Accountability Project. He is also the in-house counsel for Joe D’Amico and his corporations. I am fortunate that Mr. Overstreet would take my case. Look, I’m taking on government. I need a good lawyer. I need someone who will stand with me and not be cowed by the pressure government can bring against a citizen who dares challenge them. I spent my legal career representing the little guy against big government. I know the kind of battle government can wage against a single citizen, and that’s all I am now. Years ago I hung up my lawyer spurs. I think I have found the right attorney and the right ally to see me through this fight.

I don’t want money, though my lawyer will want his fees paid. The federal statute under which we brought the complaint entitles Mr. Overstreet to an award of his fees and our costs if we prevail, which I think we will. Dare I say, “This is an open and shut case”? I would hope that Jefferson County corrects itself immediately and stops Mr. Overstreet’s clock from running on this case. I don’t know how they can win. What they can do is waste taxpayer money. I hope they won’t do that.

But why sue? Why not simply ask them to unblock my comments and never again censor me or anyone else? We are going to court because that is what it takes to hold accountable a government that abuses its powers and violates the Constitution. We need brakes on government. That is frequently the role of the courts. The fact that Jefferson County did this even after the national media widely celebrated President Trump’s court defeat for similar conduct shows they don’t take seriously enough what the Constitution has to say about the rights of individual citizens. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they thought they could get away with it, or nobody would ever seek to hold them accountable. We are simply asking a Federal court to reacquaint them with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the foundational principle of the Bill of Rights in a manner they won’t too easily forget.

Jim Scarantino

Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our “About” page for more information.