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Updated Social Media Guidance for Colorado Legislators Urges ‘Risk-Management’ Approach After SCOTUS Ruling

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  • Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition

    The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition is a nonpartisan alliance of groups, news organizations and individuals dedicated to ensuring the transparency of state and local governments in Colorado by promoting freedom of the press, open courts and open access to government records and meetings.

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An updated memo from the Office of Legislative Legal Services suggests that members of the Colorado General Assembly take a conservative, “risk-management” approach to managing their social media accounts following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last March in Lindke v. Freed.

The 10-page draft document, discussed by the legislature’s Committee on Legal Services on Thursday, notes that “numerous public officials, including multiple Colorado legislators” have faced lawsuits in federal court for blocking people or otherwise restricting access to a public forum.

In Lindke, the Supreme Court unanimously “recognized that public officials have a First Amendment right to speak as private individuals if the speech does not constitute state action by the official,” the OLLS memo says.