04.10.2015
All
these individuals are experiencing, up close and personal, the limits
of free speech when that speech inconveniences someone more powerful
than they. Twenty, thirty years ago none of these individuals would have
faced the grave legal problems they now confront. But thirty years ago,
the legal system in the US was not yet in free fall.
This
is well expressed when First Amendment (freedom of speech) issues
collide with governmental imperatives. Prior restraint, that is the
imposition of gags or inhibitions on speech not yet spoken, is illegal
in the US, according to the written code. Increasingly, however, judges
are issuing orders which amount to prior restraint when an individual’s
speech becomes politically inconvenient.
A previous article discussed the plight of Barbara Stone, whose mother is under a guardianship in Dade County, Florida.
Upon visiting her mother in the home in which the guardian had placed
Helen Stone, Barbara was shocked to find her mother emaciated and on a
feeding tube. Barbara then allegedly took her mother to lunch.
The
problem was that Barbara would not shut up. She filed a number of
lawsuits against guardianship court Judge Michael Genden and also
against guardian Jacqueline Hertz and her attorney, Roy Lustig, as well
as criminal court judge Victoria Brennan and Governor Rick Scott. She
also launched a blog with the purpose of exposing the parties involved
in what she termed the continuing abuse of her mother. Tiring of her
complaints, Judge Genden charged her with criminal contempt for failing
to show up at a court hearing and Barbara went into lock-up.
This
past week, Stone, who is licensed to practice law in the state of New
York, secured her release from jail at a significant price. She has
agreed to stop blogging and also, significantly, to not file further
papers in her mother’s case without a lawyer. In other words, the price
of her freedom was prior restraint.
The New York Times 
