Salt Lake City, Utah: City council ejects speakers from public meeting for not being “respectful” enough

The Salt Lake City Council ejected constituent Jenna Martin from a public meeting on May 7, 2024, for violating the city’s decorum policy. During the public comment period, Martin had criticized the mayor’s handling of pro-Palestinian activists. While the council did not state which portion of the policy Martin violated, the policy mandates “respectful” discourse and bans “discriminatory language.”

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On August 14, FIRE wrote the city explaining the First Amendment protects residents’ rights to comment on matters of public concern, even if council members deem the comments disrespectful, as long as the speaker is not disrupting the meeting. FIRE also reminded the council that unqualified bans on “discriminatory” language are viewpoint discriminatory and vague, and urged the city to eliminate the policy’s unconstitutional defects.