The Fifth Circuit Upholds Qualified Immunity for Police in Arresting a Reporter for Asking the Police Questions and Publishing the Answers

​The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just dealt a serious blow to the freedom of the press, endorsing immunity for arresting a reporter for simply asking questions of the government and publishing the answers. The case, Villarreal v. City of Laredo Texas, arose when Facebook vlogger-journalist Priscilla Villarreal, who goes by the self-deprecating nickname Lagordiloca (“crazy, fat woman”) was detained for her coverage of a traffic accident and the suicide of a U.S. Border Patrol employee in Laredo.
 
Villarreal swore that she corroborated the names of the deceased individuals in the suicide and traffic accident with a source in the Laredo Police Department – taking this step after independently verifying these identities. In response to her reporting, Villarreal was detained and charged with violating a Texas law that makes it a crime to solicit nonpublic information from a public servant “with intent to obtain a benefit.” During the booking process, officers surrounded Villarreal, mocked her, and took cellphone photos of her while she was being fingerprinted.
 
The case had already appeared before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2022, when a panel of judges originally sided with Villarreal. Judge Ho, writing for the court, held that “if the First Amendment means anything, it surely means that a citizen journalist has the right to ask a public official a question, without fear of being imprisoned.” The en banc appeal, which was decided recently, held that city officials were entitled to qualified immunity and that “Villarreal sought to capitalize on others’ tragedies to propel her reputation and career.” Such weaponized language could easily be leveled against any news outlet in the country.
 
This case sets a bad precedent for the freedom of the press if reporters can’t ask government officials questions without fear of arrest and other reprisals, with the police inflicting such injury held immune for any consequences. Consider one case in November, when reporter Hank Sanders was cited for persistently asking Calumet City officials for a comment about flooding in the town. The citation was ultimately dropped after city officials realized that enforcing the citation would prove to be more of a hassle than simply responding to Sanders and his questions.
 
Or consider the rural Kansas police department that ransacked the offices of the Marion County Record in execution of a search warrant to track down an informant. The leaked information? A local restauranteur’s DUI record that the newspaper had already decided not to print. Computers were seized, cell phones were snatched, all just to bully the press.
 
We have long counted on a judicial buffer to correct local abuses. Thanks to the Fifth Circuit’s expansive view of qualified immunity, and seemingly narrow view of First Amendment rights, that buffer just became thinner.
 
If the same standard that the Fifth Circuit endorsed were to be adopted across the country, journalists would be left with little recourse when law enforcement comes crashing through their doors, but ultimately declines to prosecute them. In his dissent in the Villarreal case, Judge James Graves wrote that the Fifth’s opinion means journalists “will only be able to report information the government chooses to share” lest they face arrest and other harassment. Villarreal has already declared her intent to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Protect The 1st supports Villarreal’s appeal and looks forward to her vindication for the sake of all American journalists.