A federal appeals court affirmed Friday that a Facebook joke that led to a man’s arrest as a terrorist is protected speech under the First Amendment, reversing a lower court’s decision.
Waylon Bailey, a resident of Rapides Parish in central Louisiana, made a Facebook post on March 20, 2020, that jokingly compared COVID-19 to a zombie apocalypse, referencing the movie World War Z — police officers later showed up at Bailey’s house and arrested him for “terrorizing,” according to court documents. When Bailey sued, the district court dismissed his claims that the police department violated his First and Fourth amendment rights, a decision the Fifth Circuit reversed on Friday.
“We first hold that Bailey’s Facebook post is constitutionally protected speech,” Judge Dana Douglas, a Biden appointee, wrote in the opinion. “We then hold that the district court erred in granting qualified immunity to Detective Iles on Bailey’s First and Fourth Amendment claims and erred in granting summary judgment to Defendants on Bailey’s state law false arrest claim.”
1/ TODAY the Fifth Circuit REVERSED a trial court decision that drastically curtailed First Amendment protections for satirical online speech.
TechFreedom was proud to team up with @EFF, in an amicus brief urging this result.https://t.co/NAAwPe86Lh pic.twitter.com/2a104mJhrK
— TechFreedom (@TechFreedom) August 25, 2023
The Facebook post in question stated that the Sheriff’s Office had issued an order that deputies should “shoot on sight” if they come into contact with “the infected,” using the hashtag “#weneedyoubradpitt” in reference to World War Z movie. Bailey made the post in response to another friend’s joking post about COVID-19, according to court documents.
A deputy told Bailey as he was being handcuffed that the “next thing [you] put on Facebook should be not to fuck with the police,” the ruling notes.
The Fifth Circuit remanded Bailey’s case to the district court for proceedings consistent with their opinion.
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