City of Alpine, TX, et al v. Abbott, et al, No. 11-50441 (5th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, local government officials, sought a declaration that a provision of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA), Tex. Gov't Code Ann. 551.001 et seq., violated the First Amendment. Specifically, they contend that Texas Government Code 551.144 was a content-based restriction on political speech, was unconstitutionally vague, and was overbroad. Section 551.144 prohibited members of covered governing bodies from knowingly participating in a closed meeting, to organize a closed meeting, or to close a meeting to the public. The court held that TOMA was content-neutral and was not unconstitutionally overbroad or vague. TOMA was also a disclosure statute, though that did not change the level of scrutiny, because the statute was content-neutral. Accordingly, the district court properly applied intermediate scrutiny and the court affirmed the judgment.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on September 28, 2012.
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