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Attorney General's Office weighs whether to investigate Surprise's public-speaking policy

Rebekah Massie speaking at a Surprise City Council meeting on Aug. 20, 2024.
City of Surprise
Rebekah Massie speaking at a Surprise City Council meeting on Aug. 20, 2024.

The Attorney General’s Office said it’s weighing whether to investigate the city of Surprise’s public-speaking policy based on its obligation under state law. This comes after a Valley resident was arrested last month while addressing the City Council during a public meeting.

Adam Steinbaugh is an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, representing Rebekah Massie in the federal lawsuit against Surprise.

Governments can regulate when, where and how speech is expressed without content-based limits. But in Massie’s case, he said, “She was in a space that the city has opened up for her to speak and the mayor's order telling her to stop talking. ‘Stop saying negative things about our city attorney.’ That's an order that he just couldn't give.”

Specifically, Steinbaugh said arresting and removing Massie based on what she had to say violated her rights.

“When you encounter speech that you don't like, you should meet it with more speech, not handcuffs,” said Steinbaugh. “And that's what's gone wrong in Surprise.”

While he said it’s too soon to tell how a potential investigation from the Attorney General’s Office could affect the suit, the priority is getting the city’s policy permanently off the books.

Full statement from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office:

"The AG has received Senator Kavanaugh’s letter. Our office will fulfill its statutory duties under the law and evaluate the Senator's request for a 1487 investigation. Given the potential pending investigation, we don’t have any additional comments to make today."

Kirsten Dorman is a field correspondent at KJZZ. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dorman fell in love with audio storytelling as a freshman at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in 2019.