Cabarrus County must publicly admit breaking public comment rules after settlement
Cabarrus County must publicly acknowledge it misspoke about its public comment rules and train new commissioners after settling a federal free-speech lawsuit.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by James Campbell and the Liberty Justice Center after Campbell was removed from an April 15, 2024 board meeting and banned from attending meetings for 90 days.
According to the lawsuit, Campbell was removed after he mentioned the names of county officials while raising concerns about reported misconduct within the Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services. County officials said the comments violated the board’s public participation policy, but Campbell alleged the county refused to provide him with a written copy of the policy despite repeated requests.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. It argued that Campbell’s removal, the 90-day ban and the county’s public comment policy violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
County officials maintained at the time that the policy was intended to maintain order and decorum.
Under the settlement, the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to take several corrective actions. Those include publicly acknowledging that it incorrectly outlined the terms of its Public Participation Policy during the April 15 meeting and providing training on the policy for all newly elected or appointed commissioners.
The training materials were reviewed and approved by both Campbell and the Liberty Justice Center, according to the organization’s announcement of the settlement.
“This settlement does well to protect the First Amendment rights of all Cabarrus County residents,” Brendan Philbin, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in the release. “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 case is one of several First Amendment challenges the Liberty Justice Center has pursued in North Carolina in recent years. In its news release the organization pointed to a lawsuit involving the city of Monroe, where it challenged a policy requiring speakers to disclose their residential address before addressing city council.
“The Liberty Justice Center and James Campbell are pleased with the outcome of this case, and see this as a victory for First Amendment rights in this country,” the organization said in a statement.
The county and Campbell agreed to settle in October, and the case was dismissed by the judge with prejudice on Oct. 14. “This settlement closes a long chapter for everyone involved... I understand this process hasn’t been easy for anyone, and I respect Mr. Campbell’s conviction in standing up for what he believed in,” Concord mayor and former Cabarrus commissioner Steve Morris told the Observer in October. “That’s what our systems are built for: to ask hard questions, seek clarity, and help us move forward better than before.”
