Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin had issued the restraining order against the Clarksdale Press Register last week, telling it to remove from its website a Feb. 8 editorial titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust.” The piece criticized the city for not sending the newspaper notice about a meeting the board held regarding a proposed tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco.
Emmerich had offered to clarify that the council said the lack of notification wasn’t a deliberate attempt to hide the meeting, according to a text message Emmerich sent to the city attorney.
A Mississippi judge on Wednesday vacated her order that a newspaper remove its editorial criticizing local officials, days after a city decided to drop the lawsuit that spurred it.
The order drew widespread criticism from press groups and free speech advocates around the country, including the National Press Club and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The city’s lawsuit called the editorial libelous and said it “chilled and hindered” the city’s efforts to lobby for the tax with state legislators.
