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DENVER (KDVR) — On Tuesday, a lawsuit was filed against Denver School Board Vice President Auon’tai Anderson for allegedly infringing upon constituents’ First Amendment rights after he blocked people and deleted comments on his Facebook page.
On July 31, Anderson posted on Facebook about further findings from the firing of the McAuliffe International School principal, Kurt Dennis.
In the since-deleted post, Anderson said there had been a meeting with Dennis and the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone Board of Directors. The meeting was after Dennis did a TV interview about the shooting at East High School.
Anderson asked for the footage to be released and asked for the public to demand it as well.
“But in a democratic society, it is not just the responsibility of those in office to ensure transparency, it is also the duty of the public to demand it,” Anderson wrote.
In response to the Facebook post, Eve Chen, a parent of a Denver Public Schools student, commented, “Where can I email to ask for an unrelated investigation report against you as a taxpayer? As a taxpayer, I think I am entitled to read that too.”
Anderson immediately blocked Chen and deleted her comment, according to the lawsuit filed by attorney Andy McNulty.
In a press release about the lawsuit, McNulty claims Anderson has spent years blocking critics on social media.
This is part of a national debate about whether public officials can block people on social media.
The lawsuit claims that Anderson violated Chen’s First Amendment rights as one of his constituents.
“The banning of Chen imposes an unconstitutional restriction on her participation in a designated public forum and her right to petition the government for redress of grievances,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit and preliminary injunction were filed to stop his censorship and to vindicate Chen’s First Amendment rights, according to McNulty.
As of Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., Anderson has yet to release a statement about the lawsuit.
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