NEWFANE, NY \u2013 On June 21, 2023, Cornell Law School\u2019s First Amendment Clinic filed a lawsuit in Niagara County Supreme Court on behalf of Tracy Murphy, animal rights activist and founder of Asha\u2019s Farm Sanctuary in Newfane New York.\u00a0 The suit, an Article 78 petition, challenges a gag order Newfane Town Court Justice Bruce Barnes imposed on Murphy restricting her First Amendment rights while she awaits trial on a misdemeanor larceny charge stemming from a dispute over the ownership of two cows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gag order imposes a blanket ban on Murphy\u2019s use of any form of social media \u2013 which the order defines to \u201cspecifically include Facebook and public billboards, etc.\u201d \u2013 while the criminal case against her is pending. Murphy\u2019s suit challenges the gag order on several grounds, including that the gag order is an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech in violation of the First Amendment, that the order is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and that the order violates New York bail laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ability to interact with others on social media \u2013 whether that be through \u2018liking\u2019 posts, commenting, or perusing timelines \u2013 is critical to the exercise of First Amendment rights in the modern day,\u201d said First Amendment Clinic Summer Fellow Eman Naga. \u201cBy blocking Murphy\u2019s ability to use social media and express her views publicly, the gag order effectively strips Murphy of her voice. It also sets a dangerous precedent for other criminal defendants to be unlawfully silenced, too \u2013 regardless of whether they share Ms. Murphy\u2019s views about animal rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAsha\u2019s Farm Sanctuary is founded on spreading hope and love,\u201d stated Murphy. \u201cThe gag order is inhibiting my ability to do just that, as well as my ability to fundraise for the Sanctuary and advocate for myself and the animals I care so deeply about helping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court has made very clear that blanket gag orders like the one Ms. Murphy challenges are unacceptable under the First Amendment,\u201d said Christina Neitzey, Stanton Fellow at the First Amendment Clinic and counsel for Murphy. \u201cCourts cannot pick and choose who gets to enjoy free speech rights based on factors like politics and personal lifestyle differences. For the First Amendment to mean anything, we must all have these rights\u2014vegans and ranchers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Murphy is represented in this suit by Neitzey, assisted by Clinic Summer Fellows Naga and Karem Lizbeth Herrera. The matter is pending in Niagara County Supreme Court as Murphy v. Barnes<\/em>, Index No. E180218\/2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murphy is represented in the parallel criminal matter by Chris Carraway with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Wayne Hsiung of Direct Action Everywhere, and Bonnie Klapper, former federal prosecutor and current member of the Direct Action Everywhere Legal Team. Murphy\u2019s criminal defense team previously challenged the same gag order before Justice Barnes, as well as an earlier version of the gag order Town of Somerset Justice Pamela Rider imposed at Murphy\u2019s arraignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact: Christina Neitzey, cn266@cornell.edu, 607-255-4196<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEWFANE, NY \u2013 On June 21, 2023, Cornell Law School\u2019s First Amendment Clinic filed a lawsuit in Niagara County Supreme Court on behalf of Tracy Murphy, animal rights activist and founder of Asha\u2019s Farm Sanctuary in Newfane New York.\u00a0 The suit, an Article 78 petition, challenges a gag order Newfane Town Court Justice Bruce Barnes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,8,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}