Lawmaker sued for banning 2 constituents from Facebook page

OLYMPIA – Rep. Jim Walsh has been sued by two constituents who argue their First Amendment rights are being violated because they’ve been banned from commenting on the state lawmaker’s Facebook page.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Wednesday, says that the Aberdeen Republican unlawfully censored Jeff Nichols and Gilbert Myers when he banned them from his “politician” page on the social media site.

Walsh says that the lawsuit is politically motivated, and that he only banned the men after warning them about what he said were posts that involved swearing or were otherwise uncivil. An attorney for the men disputes that any uncivil posts were made.

The suit comes a year after the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington sent a letter to lawmakers warning them that blocking or censoring people from social media accounts like Twitter or Facebook runs afoul of the First Amendment if based done solely on the viewpoints expressed.