In this past September, a mother named Tammy Holland was sued by school board officials for taking out two ads in her local newspaper. Ms.Holland took out the ad to inform voters about the upcoming school board election that would be held at a local public school. Although Ms. Holland did not voice her personal opinion throughout these ads, she was sued by the local school board officials to keep her thoughts to herself about the upcoming election. Ms. Holland never imagined that she would be sued for speaking up in a local newspaper. In order to prevent future Americans from being sued, Ms. Holland decided to take her case to court. This court case is known as
Tammy Holland v. Wayne W. Williams.
Once this court case came about, it was shared that Tammy was not the first Colorado resident who had suffered from Colorado’s-private enforcement law. It came about that many other individuals and groups have been sued by voicing their personal opinions because of Colorado’s private enforcement law. After this specific case was brought to court, IJ Senior Attorney Paul Sherman said that this law enforcement was unconstitutional. Sherman came to the conclusion after this court case, that this enforcement law needed to go. He declared the Colorado private enforcement law as unconstitutional.
One of the major things that surprised me about this court case was that Ms. Holland was not only ridiculed for voicing her opinion in the local news, but she was sued. What fascinates me most about this case is that although the constitution has been in effect for over 100 years, many struggle to grasp the true concept of our First Amendment rights. Often many American citizens are judged for vocalizing their public opinions. The fact that Ms. Holland was sued for speaking her opinion is something that I find to be ridiculous.
