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Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office faces lawsuit over Facebook page

Posted at 4:13 PM, Nov 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-10 18:13:40-05

HELENA – Two people living in Lewis and Clark County are suing the Sheriff’s Office over actions taken on the office’s Facebook page.

In the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, Chase Berg and Deanna Anderson say their comments to the sheriff’s public Facebook page were deleted, and they were banned from the page without explanation.

They say those actions violate their First Amendment rights to free speech, and their 14th Amendment rights to due process, since they weren’t told why they were banned.

The lawsuit also cites a recent case involving President Donald Trump, Knight First Amendment Institute vs. Trump.

In that case, the president was prevented from banning people from his Twitter profile, since it’s considered a public forum.

When MTN contacted the Sheriff’s Office and the County Attorney’s office Friday, they said they’re working on a response.

-Reported by Evelyn Schultz/MTN News