COBB COUNTY, GA — A group of local parents is asking an appeals court to allow a First Amendment lawsuit against the Cobb County School District to move forward over public comment at a 2023 school board meeting.
The plaintiffs say they signed up to speak during public comment at the meeting but were not allowed to do so. They argue that their First Amendment rights were violated.
“The First Amendment isn’t just for your supporters, it’s for your critics too,” Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Carli Raben said.
Raben said the plaintiffs are asking the court to prevent similar decisions from being made in the future.
“We’re asking that they are prohibited from making these kind of unnoticed last minute decisions that were intended to manipulate the sign-up process intending to manipulate who gets to speak,” Raben said.
Lawyers for the Cobb County School District are asking the appeals court to overturn a decision allowing the case to move forward and have the lawsuit dismissed.
“We’re asking the court to say that what they did violated the First Amendment, and we’re asking the court to order them not to do it again,” Raben said.
WSB Radio reached out to Cobb County School District officials for comment but has not received a response.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story.