A federal judge has ruled that Yardley officials violated a resident’s First Amendment rights by deleting a critical comment from the borough’s Facebook page, writes Abraham Gutman for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

District Judge Mark A. Kearney denied a request from borough officials to remove themselves from a lawsuit filed by Earl Markey over a Facebook comment deleted in 2022.

The judge emphasized that the officials are not immune from liability, citing a “consensus of established law.”

“A resident undoubtedly enjoys the right to appropriately criticize his local borough government officials under the First Amendment without fear of government censure,” said Kearney.

Markey, a corporate trainer and local Republican committee member, commented on a post from the “Yardley Boro” Facebook page. The post promoted a ballot measure to reduce the borough council members from seven to five.

“Appointed Councilman Matt Curtin wants to raise property taxes by two mills,” wrote Markey. “Stop unelected, out of touch investment bankers, like Matt Curtin, from volunteering our hard-earned money for higher taxes. Vote YES on the referendum to reduce the size of the Yardley Borough Council.”

The comment was removed hours after being posted, with the approval of Council President Caroline Thompson.

Read more about the federal judge’s decision on Markey’s comment on Yardley’s Facebook in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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