Dear John,

As we eagerly await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in our case championing the rights of Sylvia Gonzalez, I wanted to let you know that we’re keeping up the momentum in our First Amendment retaliation litigation with a case eerily similar to Sylvia’s.

Ruth Herbel loves her hometown of Marion County, Kansas. It’s where she raised her family and had a successful career working in state and federal government. It also spurred her to run for city council when she grew frustrated with the corruption and dishonesty coming out of city hall. She was successfully elected as a Councilwoman and Vice Mayor of Marion County in 2019.

Ruth’s crusade against corruption quickly drew the ire of the mayor and his allies, who attempted to remove her from council at least four times—but Ruth was undeterred. The small-town conflict boiled over when Ruth informed the council that an ally of the mayor had a DUI, which was relevant to the council’s upcoming consideration of the ally’s liquor license application.

The mayor and his police chief saw the perfect opportunity to punish their political rival. Watch what happens next in the video below: ([link removed] )

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They drew up an arrest warrant that falsely accused Ruth of identity theft and found a judge an hour outside the county to sign it.

Warrants in hand, they raided Ruth’s home, traumatizing her husband, who suffers from dementia, and accusing Ruth of identity theft and misuse of a computer. They took her phone and computers—leaving her no way to contact her children or her husband’s doctors in the event of an emergency.

After the raid, Ruth learned that the mayor had said, “The only way we can get Ruth off of the council is to get her convicted of a criminal offense.” And they almost got away with it, but other abuses by town officials, including raiding the offices and seizing items from the local newspaper, caught the attention of the national news media, prompting the mayor to leave office and leading to the resignation of the police chief. The warrant against Ruth was withdrawn and her phone and computers were eventually returned.

The retaliation Ruth faced for her political opposition is a direct violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. So, she teamed up with IJ to hold the mayor, police chief, and the city accountable and send a clear message that government officials cannot retaliate against their critics.

Stay tuned for updates on the Gonzalez decision and our other work fighting unconstitutional retaliation by government officials.

Scott G. Bullock

President and Chief Counsel

Institute for Justice

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