Politics
Ald. Jim Gardiner Agrees to Pay $157K to Settle Lawsuit Claiming He Violated First Amendment by Blocking Critics From Official Facebook Page
Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) on the floor of the Chicago City Council. (WTTW News)
Ald. Jim Gardiner (45th Ward) agreed to pay $157,500 to settle a lawsuit claiming he violated the First Amendment by blocking six critics from his official Facebook page in 2021, court records show.
The six plaintiffs – James Suh, Steve Held, Pete Czosnyka, Peter Barash, Adam Vavrick and Dominick Maino – will each get $4,000, with the remaining $133,500 covering their legal fees, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by WTTW News.
Adele Nichols, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said the settlement was the largest reached in a case related to a public official’s regulation of a social media page.
“Social media sites like Facebook provide the public a powerful tool to petition their elected officials and make their voices heard,” Nicholas said in a statement. “Elected officials can’t selectively ban people who disagree with them.”
Gardiner said he blocked the six people “due to doxxing and the nature of harassing comments” in keeping with advice from the Chicago Board of Ethics. Doxxing is the publication of personally identifying information on the internet with malicious intent.
“The 45th Ward would be better served if funding to settle this case were donated to organizations that raise awareness for those within our community suffering from chronic mental illness,” Gardiner said.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled in September 2023 that the evidence showing Gardiner violated the First Amendment was overwhelming and ruled for the plaintiffs without a trial, leaving the question of damages the only question to be resolved.
“The record is clear that Gardiner engaged in both content-based and speaker-based restrictions on his Facebook page,” Johnson Coleman ruled. “He deleted and hid comments from disfavored constituents voicing opposing political beliefs and even went as far as to block some of those constituents. The Court thus finds Gardiner in violation of the First Amendment.”
Johnson Coleman’s ruling upheld a 2019 advisory opinion issued by the Chicago Board of Ethics that warned members of the City Council who use social media to communicate with constituents and city residents that they should not block people from following their accounts or delete comments critical of them or their positions.
The judge’s ruling dismissed Gardiner’s argument that he had the power to moderate his Facebook page as he saw fit by deleting comments he considered “harassing,” “threatening,” “doxing” or “inciting” and by blocking users after receiving complaints.
Johnson Coleman determined that Gardiner had been put on notice that he was not permitted to block critics from his Facebook page, establishing that he knew he was violating their constitutional rights.
The judge also permanently blocked Gardiner from blocking any users from his Facebook page or hiding or deleting any posts until he develops a clear policy that complies with the First Amendment. That injunction was incorporated into the settlement agreement, which included no admission of wrongdoing by Gardiner, records show.
Before a trial to determine damages could take place, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out the framework, set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, used by Johnson Coleman to reach her decision.
The Supreme Court found that judges can hold public officials responsible for blocking people from their social media accounts after performing a test to establish whether the official had the actual authority to speak on the state’s behalf and exercised that authority on social media, Johnson Coleman wrote.
That sent the case back to square one and prompted a resumption of settlement negotiations.
In August, Johnson Coleman admonished Gardiner for approaching her in June at a funeral while she presided over the case.
Czosnyka has repeatedly clashed with Gardiner and his ally, 38th Ward Ald. Nicholas Sposato. Suh unsuccessfully ran against Gardiner to represent the 45th Ward on the City Council in 2023.
Czosnyka spent a night in jail in November 2018 after being subjected to “an improper campaign of harassment” after criticizing a Far Northwest Side business group on Facebook for the group’s response to the conviction of a White Chicago police officer for the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, a Black teen, according to evidence gathered by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency charged with investigating police misconduct.
In addition, the Chicago Board of Ethics fined Gardiner $20,000 for retaliating against Czosnyka by directing a city employee to issue “unfounded citations” in September 2019 that could have forced Czosnyka to pay more than $600 in fines.
Chicago taxpayers paid $100,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was wrongfully arrested at Gardiner’s request after finding a cellphone that belonged to a close associate of the alderperson, records show. That associate plead guilty to a felony gun charge after trying to sell an illegal machine gun while working for the city, according to a spokesperson for Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
“Perhaps the alderman will start to realize that too, is bound by the rules, laws and Constitution that protect us all,” Czosnyka said.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
