Published on: Thursday, March 30, 2023
Disgruntled lawyers may grumble about a judge in private. Really disgruntled lawyers might even post disparaging Facebook comments on the judge's personal Facebook page. Only super-mega-disgruntled lawyers, though, file First Amendment lawsuits against judges who block them from posting disparaging Facebook comments on the judge's personal Facebook page. And that last kind loses. Texas judge who blocked a lawyer from his Facebook page and deleted the lawyer’s negative comments sued judge for First Amendment. Fifth Circuit (unpublished): No violation. [Ed.: Judge lost in the March 2022 primary and his term ended December 2022.]
The case is Kallinen v. Newman, 22-20383 (5th Cir. Mar. 27, 2023).