How an Unconstitutional Law Silenced Free Speech

Podcast: Swear on the Stand · Daniel W. Swear

Opublikowano: 2026-10-16

In Joy Banner v. Michael Wright et al., the plaintiff appealed a lower court's refusal to grant a new trial following a unanimous jury verdict against her in a First Amendment lawsuit. Banner had been silenced at a public parish meeting after attempting to discuss a pending ethics complaint against the parish president, using a statute that had been ruled unconstitutional nearly a decade prior. Although Banner timely objected throughout the proceedings, the district court denied her motion for a new trial, improperly relying on inadmissible juror statements to conclude that defense counsel's extensive misconduct had no prejudicial impact...