(Cabarrus County, NC)—The Liberty Justice Center announces that a settlement has been reached in Campbell v. Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners, resolving a federal lawsuit brought to protect the First Amendment rights of Cabarrus County resident James Campbell.
Filed on November 21, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, the case challenged the Board’s actions after Mr. Campbell was removed from an April 15, 2024 public meeting and banned from attending meetings for 90 days. His removal was based on his referencing the names of county officials while raising concerns about reported misconduct within the Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services. The Board claimed such references violated their comment policy but refused to provide Mr. Campbell a copy of the written participation policy guidelines despite multiple verbal and written requests. The lawsuit argued that both the removal (and subsequent ban) and the Board’s purported public comment policy violated Mr. Campbell’s First Amendment rights to free speech and to petition the government.
While the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners declined to admit liability or wrongdoing, the board agreed to take remedial actions including publicly acknowledging that it incorrectly outlined the terms of its Public Participation Policy during the April 15, 2024 general session and instituting training on the terms and application of the Public Participation Policy for all new commissioners upon appointment or election. The material used in these trainings was approved by the Liberty Justice Center and Mr. Campbell.
“This settlement does well to protect the First Amendment rights of all Cabarrus County residents,” said Brendan Philbin, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “The training materials put the Board of Commissioners on notice that civic minded citizens like Mr. Campbell may not be silenced or banned from public meetings for respectfully criticizing government officials and commenting on matters of public interest.”
The Liberty Justice Center and James Campbell are pleased with the outcome of this case, and see this is a victory for First Amendment rights in this country. The settlement concludes the litigation.
This is not the first time LJC has defended First Amendment rights violations in North Carolina. In our recent case, Metzger v. City of Monroe, Ms. Metzger found herself in a similar situation as Mr. Campbell, when city council meetings implemented a new policy that restricted speech and petition during the public comment period by requiring individuals to disclose their residential address before speaking. Additionally, in 2024 in Davidson County, LJC successfully defended sixteen-year-old Christian McGhee, when the school board violated his free speech, education, and due process rights when they suspended him for asking his English teacher whether her reference to the word “aliens” referred to “space aliens, or illegal aliens who need green cards?”
The Liberty Justice Center will continue to hold North Carolina and every state accountable for violating their residents’ constitutional rights and Campbell v. Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners is yet another example of this commitment.
The Liberty Justice Center’s original filing in Campbell v. Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners can be found here.