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Politics

First Amendment-Trampling Judge Faces Last Minute Effort To Unseat Her

Radley Balko | 10.26.2010 1:11 PM

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In August I posted about Felicia Gibson, a North Carolina woman who was arrested and later convicted of "resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer." Gibson's transgression? She recorded a traffic stop on her street. She was on her own porch at the time. A number of people were viewing the stop, but only Gibson was recording it, and only Gibson was arrested.

Gibson was convicted by Rowan County District Court Juge Beth Dixon. Dixon is up for reelection next week, and photography activist Carlos Miller is launching a last-minute Facebook campaign targeted at users in her county.

It's been almost two months since North Carolina judge Beth Dixon was forced to remove her Facebook campaign page after an onslaught of criticism from people who did not appreciate the way she trampled on the First Amendment.

Now with just over a week to go before the Rowan County District Court election, the two-term incumbent is hoping that local voters will not allow such petty meeatmories to vote her out of office.

After all, since that controversial ruling in late August, the local media has virtually ignored this election.

However, I've just relaunched a Facebook ad campaign targeting voters in her area in the hopes that they will vote against her on November 2.

Miller's Facebook page making the case against Dixon is here.

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Radley Balko is a journalist at The Washington Post.

PoliticsCivil LibertiesCampaigns/ElectionsFree Speech
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