Palmetto Bay Council member Steve Cody drew ample ire in September for making light of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s murder, with many, including his City Hall peers, calling for his resignation.
Now Cody, with the help of lawyers from the ACLU of Florida, is suing the village for what it calls “retaliatory punishment,” including removing him from a committee and barring him from related roles.
“In America, you don’t get to lose your voice in government because someone disagrees with your speech,” Cody said in a statement.
“The Village was free to criticize me. You can disagree with speech. You can condemn it. But you cannot punish it. That’s the line the Constitution draws, and that’s the line the Village crossed.”
On Sept. 10, 2025, the same day Kirk was killed by gunfire at Utah Valley University, Cody wrote on Facebook, “Charlie Kirk is a fitting sacrifice to our Lords: (gun manufacturer) Smith & Wesson. Hallowed be their names.”
After outrage erupted, Cody told Florida Politics he was referencing a comment Kirk made about how some wrongful gun deaths were acceptable in protecting the Second Amendment.
Those demanding that Cody step down included U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, Attorney General James Uthmeier, state Sen. Ileana Garcia, state Reps. Omar Blanco and Juan Porras — all Republicans — and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, a Democrat whose district includes Palmetto Bay.
All four of Cody’s peers on the Village Council, including Mayor Karyn Cunningham, also voted to censure him and request that Gov. Ron DeSantis remove him from office.
Cody, a former lawyer now in his second term on the Council, apologized and removed the post, which he said he regretted.
He refused to resign. DeSantis never stepped in.
But in a 17-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida last week, Cody accuses Palmetto Bay officials of not letting the issue go and later penalizing his speech.
Among other things, Cody says the Village Council removed him as its liaison to the Village’s Education Advisory Committee, rescinded his appointments to other Boards and external bodies, stripped his authority to speak or act on the Council’s behalf, and blocked him from presenting any official Village recognition at events.
Village records show a resolution to impose those limitations on Cody, sponsored by Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer, passed during a Special Council meeting Nov. 17.
In January, a Miami-Dade Judge tossed a prior lawsuit Cody filed claiming Merwitzer was improperly sworn into office in 2024 and, consequently, all his official actions since should be nullified. WLRN reported that Cody began targeting Merwitzer with the lawsuit, the basis for which Judge Jacqueline Woodward called “wholly fabricated,” after the Vice Mayor rescinded a contract with a lobbyist to whom Cody had ties.
Another suit Cody filed accused Merwitzer of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law by withholding public records from him — a claim Merwitzer denied, telling WLRN that the request was being filed, just not as quickly as Cody wanted.
Cody’s current lawsuit argues those actions constituted unconstitutional retaliation and viewpoint discrimination under federal law. It also claims the village’s actions had a chilling effect on speech, harmed Cody’s reputation and the democratic process, and interfered with village voters’ rights to representation by their chosen official.
“Elected officials do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they take office, and the government cannot punish speech simply because they find it offensive,” Nicholas Warren, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement. “The people have the right to elect representatives who will feel free to speak their minds without threat of government sanctions, even when what they have to say is unpopular.”
Cody’s Seat 2 represents Palmetto Bay residents within the northern boundary of Southwest 152nd Street and the southern boundary of Southwest 168th Street, excluding all of the Royal Harbor Yacht Club and Paradise Point.
“Plaintiff does not challenge the Village’s authority to express disapproval or to adopt a purely verbal censure,” the suit says. “Plaintiff challenges only the Village’s subsequent escalation … from censure to tangible punishment — including removing Plaintiff from an official government role — imposed solely because of his protected speech.”
Polling in October, less than a month after Kirk’s assassination, found that half of Miami-Dade voters believe sharing their political views online and in public can draw unwanted retaliation.
Cody is seeking a ruling that Palmetto Bay’s actions are unconstitutional and, as injunctive relief, a court order blocking the village from enforcing those punishments and preventing future “retaliation” for the speech at issue.
He is also seeking $1 in damages, plus attorneys fees and legal fees.
Warren and fellow ACLU of Florida lawyers Michelle Morton, Samantha Past, Caroline McNamara and Daniel Tilley filed the lawsuit, viewable below, on April 27.