A New Free Speech Case in Floridahe American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a new lawsuit last month on behalf of the Miami Beach resident and Army National Guard veteran Raquel Pacheco, arguing that Miami Beach city officials conducted a coordinated campaign to suppress constitutionally protected speech—namely, the advocacy for the rights of Palestinians and criticism of the foreign government of Israel.
On January 7, 2026, Pacheco posted a comment on Facebook criticizing City of Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner’s stance on Palestine. She wrote, “The guy who consistently calls for the death of all Palestinians, tried to shut down a theater for showing a movie that hurt his feelings, and refuses to stand up for the LGBTQ community in any way… wants you to know that you’re all welcome here,” referring to a 2024 attempt by Meiner to chill pro-Palestinian speech; Meiner had threatened to revoke the lease of O Cinema, a private Miami Beach movie theater, over its screenings of the Academy Award–winning documentary No Other Land, which documents Israel’s destruction of Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
The mayor reportedly flagged Pacheco’s Facebook comment for police, and on January 12, in an incident condemned by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), two Miami Beach Police Department officers visited Pacheco's home, questioned her about the post, and advised her to “refrain from posting things like that because that could get something incited.” Pacheco recorded the encounter and the video was posted on X, rapidly going viral.
In the video, Miami Beach police officers confront Pacheco in her doorway. The complaint notes that when Pacheco opened the door, she invoked her right to have an attorney present before answering any questions, which the officers ignored, proceeding to question her anyway. Reading out-loud her own Facebook comments, the officer claimed that the purpose of their visit is “trying to prevent… somebody else getting agitated or agreeing with the statement,” saying that her comments could “probably incite somebody to do something radical.”
When it comes to “incitement,” the Supreme Court has long recognized that speech is constitutionally protected unless 1) it is directed to producing “imminent lawless action” and 2) is likely to produce such action. Speech like Pacheco’s that is merely provocative or critical of public figures, but not an immediate call to violence, is entirely protected by the first amendment.
The ADC’s complaint, filed on Pacheco’s behalf against the City of Miami Beach, Meiner, Police Chief Wayne Jones, City Manager Eric Carpenter, two city commissioners, and unnamed police detectives, alleges four separate First Amendment violations.
The first count charges viewpoint discrimination and invokes the Supreme Court's repeated holding that viewpoint discrimination is an “egregious form of content discrimination” that is “presumptively unconstitutional,” (Matal v. Tam, 2017, quoting Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of the Univ. of Va, 1995) and that political speech, particularly advocacy on controversial issues like pro-Palestinian advocacy, occupies “the highest, most protected position” (R.A.V. v. St. Paul, 1992) under the First Amendment. The ADC’s complaint argues that dispatching police to Pacheco’s home to question her about a post criticizing a public official, and instructing her not to post such content again, is exactly the kind of viewpoint-targeted government action the Constitution forbids. ...........
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/a-new-free-speech-case-in-florida/
