A federal judge says the City of Newton violated a resident’s constitutional rights in 2022, when a Newton man was arrested twice for criticizing the Newton Police Department and calling them “fascists”.  At the October 3, 2022, city council meeting, Noah Peterson began reading prepared remarks criticizing the police department, and was interrupted by Mayor Mike Hanson, who stated Peterson was violating the city’s open forum rule against making “derogatory comments.” Mayor Hanson directed Police Chief Rob Burdess to remove Peterson from the meeting, and the Newton man was arrested for disorderly conduct. A few weeks later, Peterson attended another Newton City Council meeting, and called the mayor and police chief “fascists” during the open comment period. He was referring to their actions suppressing his comments at the prior meeting he attended. Hanson again stopped Peterson from talking, suspended the council meeting, and Peterson was again arrested for disorderly conduct. Peterson was later found “not guilty” on the disorderly conduct charge connected to his first arrest, and the charges from the second council meeting he attended were dismissed by the city. 

In Monday’s ruling, Chief Judge Stephanie M. Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, determined the City of Newton’s “Derogatory Comments” rule and its selective enforcement violated Petersen’s rights under the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The court entered judgment for Pettersen on liability against the city and key officials involved, rejecting various attempts to justify the arrests. Judge Rose wrote that the Constitution does not permit government officials to silence criticism under the guise of preventing defamation, and that’s precisely what the city attempted. She added the record demonstrates the “derogatory comment” rule was enforced against Peterson not because his speech was actually defamatory, but because it criticized government officials in a manner they found objectionable.