ARLINGTON, Va. – Yesterday, a Texas court found that a Fort Bend citizen journalist’s First Amendment rights were violated by the county’s Sheriff. The United States District Court, Southern District of Texas ruling finds that Sheriff Eric Fagan infringed Justin Pulliam’s rights by excluding him from a press conference in a public park that he was trying to record for his YouTube channel. The court ruled not only that Fort Bend County violated Justin’s free-speech rights, but that his rights were so clearly established that Sheriff Fagan has no qualified immunity, a dubious doctrine the Supreme Court developed to shield officials from accountability for their constitutional violations.

The ruling also lets a separate claim for false arrest while Justin was recording deputies move to trial. Justin sued the Sheriff and county with the Institute for Justice (IJ) in December 2022.

“Today’s victory establishes that the government cannot give favorable access to the traditional media by discriminating against social-media journalists,” said IJ Attorney Christie Herbert. “To the First Amendment, all speakers are equal, a bedrock principle necessary for twenty-first-century journalism.”

In July 2021, Justin arrived to cover a statement from Sheriff Fagan following the discovery of human remains in a public park. But instead of allowing Justin to stand with the rest of the media in a designated media zone, Sheriff Fagan directed Fort Bend County officers to remove Pulliam, whose investigative journalism is frequently critical of local government. The Sheriff asserted that Justin was not “media” and ordered his arrest if he refused to comply. As the officers moved Justin away, he was unable to participate in or record the substance of the sheriff’s press conference on the discovery of the body of a missing person.

Five months later, in December 2021, a Fort Bend County sergeant arrested Justin for interfering with police—even though Justin was far from the active scene and had permission from the property owner to record a welfare check on her property. Although Sergeant Taylor Rollins sent Justin to jail, a Fort Bend County jury hung on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with police. Five members of the jury voted to acquit, and only a single juror insisted on voting for conviction.

The court set this claim for trial, wanting to know more about the facts surrounding the arrest to determine if Sergeant Rollins had probable cause to arrest Justin or, even if he did, was the true purpose to retaliate against Justin for his protected speech. A date for that trial has yet to be set.

“This victory shows how important the First Amendment is to protect investigative journalists like me who use social media to provide hard-hitting, often critical coverage, of the police and other government officials,” said Justin.

“This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court made clear that the police cannot arrest people for exercising their right to free speech,” said IJ Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes. “Judge Hanks will schedule a trial here to ensure that Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Taylor Rollins didn’t arrest Justin for his free speech while covering a police welfare check on a mentally ill man.”

The Institute for Justice is a public-interest law firm that litigates nationwide to vindicate individual liberties. IJ is fighting to hold government authorities accountable in cases across the country. In Texas, IJ won a case before the Supreme Court representing a city council member arrested by police for her outspoken opposition to the mayor and city manager. In Ohio, IJ is suing East Cleveland police and government officials on behalf of a man arrested for his campaign advocacy. Finally, in Wisconsin, IJ is representing a woman targeted with zoning citations after speaking out at town meetings.

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To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may contact Phillip Suderman, IJ’s Communications Project Manager at [email protected] (850) 376-4110. More information on the case is available at:  https://ij.org/case/fort-bend-retaliation/