From the Minot Daily News: Supporters of a failed campaign to abolish North Dakota property
taxes say a judge is trampling their free-speech rights by ordering them
to apologize to their opponents.
The supporters plan to make the
argument in a court filing Monday. The Associated Press obtained a copy
of the filing in advance.
During the campaign, property tax
critics, who formed a loosely knit organization called Empower the
Taxpayer, sued several state and county officials, claiming they made
false statements about the impact of a ballot measure that sought to
abolish property taxes.
The measure was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls in June.
Afterward, South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick, who dismissed
the original lawsuit, ordered the property tax critics to publish an
apology in North Dakota newspapers at their own expense.
Romanick
also ordered the anti-property tax activists to pay almost $26,000 in
legal fees spent defending the state and local officials.
Monday's court filing said Romanick did not have authority to require an apology.
"This court has no more right to require a citizen to speak or
retract a statement that public officials are presenting false
information than it has to issue a prior restraint on any such
statements," said the filing, written by Bismarck attorney Lynn Boughey.
"If these public officials believe that the statements made by Empower
the Taxpayer - either verbal or written - are slanderous and libelous,
they are free to hire their own lawyer and proceed accordingly." http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/569477/Activists-say-judge-trampling-speech.html?nav=5583
I'm sure the ACLU will be join the fight to protect these conservatives. When pigs fly. But to order this group to apologize is just downright childish.
If this was the case, most politicians will be apologizing to their constituents on a daily basis.
Sunrise — 6:57.
7 hours ago
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