A federal judge on Monday brushed aside as premature an effort to end a lawsuit challenging the Village of Key Biscayne’s news media ‘gag policy.’ The policy could have led to discipline for any Village employee who spoke to the news media without authorization.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court Judge Ed Artau means that discovery in the First Amendment case will proceed, potentially including depositions of Village officials and the staff of the Key Biscayne Independent. The KBI filed the case earlier this year, after Manager Steve Williamson imposed the policy following reporting involving local Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s condo unit.
The Village argued the civil rights lawsuit was partially moot because Williamson withdrew the policy, and the Village Council passed a resolution stating its “intent” to not have a binding news media policy. “A subsequent enactment of a media policy would be in contravention of the act of Village Council,” said the Village attorney’s brief.
But in court papers, the newspaper argued the Council’s action is actually nonbinding, and does not stop Williamson or future managers from reimposing gag policies after the case is over. It noted that media access issues persist and continue to raise a flag.
“Plaintiff has shown reason to believe that the Village might well re-enact the policy if this litigation ended today,” said the Independent’s attorneys in the newspaper’s brief.
The brief also said the Village seems to be arguing that the Council cannot restrict the manager’s instructions to staff because of a provision in the Village Charter, hence the reason for the use of the word “intent.”
“Put simply, the Village asks this Court to take its word for it,” the brief reads, saying if that’s true, then a formal ruling against the media policy is needed all the more.
Judge Artau ruled that “the Court concludes that discovery is warranted,” citing a case that held that a court should not prematurely dismiss a claim until relevant facts can be gathered. The question of whether the case is moot –or even whether Artau has jurisdiction to decide the matter– will be decided later.
Artau was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump earlier this year, after serving on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal.
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The Independent is represented by attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a nationally recognized media freedom organization, and the firm of Shullman Fugate.
At the heart of the case are articles published in 2024 regarding a Village Building, Zoning and Planning Department investigation of items being stored in Salazar’s condo unit in Key Biscayne before a certificate of occupancy had been issued. Williamson imposed the policy shortly thereafter, the suit claims, damaging the public’s right to know.
Williamson’s policy directed employees to get authorization from himself or Village spokesperson Jessica Drouet before they could talk to reporters — and if they didn’t they could be disciplined or fired.
Such policies have been called “Censorship by PIO” by the Society of Professional Journalists.
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Editor-in-Chief
Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.