Surprise, Arizona: Mom arrested at city council meeting after criticizing city attorney’s pay raise

Complaint

On August 20, 2024, Rebekah Massie and her 10-year-old daughter attended a city council meeting in the City of Surprise, where she lives. When Mayor Skip Hall opened the meeting for public comments, Massie stood up to criticize a proposed pay raise for the city attorney. She laid out the reasons why she did not believe his performance warranted a pay increase.

Mayor Hall interrupted Massie, telling her that the city’s rules prohibit “complaints” about city employees during city council meetings and gave her a “warning” for “attacking the city attorney personally.” When Massie objected that the First Amendment protected her comments, Mayor Hall ordered police to remove Massie. In front of her 10-year-old daughter, Massie was detained, marched out of the room, and arrested.

Amid a public uproar over video of the mayor’s conduct, one City Council member dared Massie to file a First Amendment lawsuit, telling a local newspaper, “Bring it on.”

On September 3, 2024, FIRE sued on behalf of Massie and another Surprise resident, Quintus Schulzke. The same day, FIRE also moved for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the city rule. The lawsuit challenges both Massie’s arrest and the City of Surprise policy barring residents from offering “complaints” about city officials during City Council meetings.