Loudoun County Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) acted under the color of state law in maintaining her Chair Phyllis J. Randall Facebook page and banning Lansdowne resident Brian Davison from the page overnight, yet Randall violated Davison's First Amendment right under the U.S. and Virginia constitutions in doing so, U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris has ruled in a complex case about free speech in the digital age.

Over the last two years, Davison has filed three separate civil rights lawsuits against the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and Randall, Commonwealths Attorney Jim Plowman (R) and the Loudoun County School Board for either blocking him from their Facebook pages or deleting critical comments he posted.

Last February, Davison was blocked from Randalls Facebook page for roughly eight hours overnight after the Lansdowne resident made critical comments of the Loudoun County School Board and members of their family.

Randall said she blocked the comment specifically because of references Davison made about family members of School Board representatives.

But the next morning, Randall said she decided to unblock Davison and says she has not blocked him or deleted any comments from him or any other person since that time.

Judge Cacheris, in a ruling today, stated that although Davisons actions were "relatively inconsequential as a practical matter, Randalls action did in fact violate his First Amendment right to free speech.

The court holds only that under the specific circumstances presented here, [the] defendant violated the First Amendment by engaging in viewpoint discrimination and banning plaintiff from a digital forum for criticizing her colleagues in the county government, the ruling states.

A central question in the suit was whether the chairwomans Chair Phyllis J. Randall Facebook page was her official county government profile. Davison maintains it is.

In his ruling, Judge Cacheris said that Randalls Facebook page in question operates as a forum for speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. and Virginia constitutions.

However, Cacheris ruled that Randall did not violate Davisons due process rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and would not be subject to Davisons request for injunctive relief.

A federal court has once again confirmed that speech is one of our most cherished rights under the Constitution, Davison said in a statement to the Times-Mirror following the ruling. Our elected officials cannot open up official communication channels for propaganda and praise and then ban their critics. Randall is the first Loudoun official to be rebuked for violating citizen's civil rights but definitely will not be the last.

In a prepared statement, Randall said despite Judge Cacheris ruling, it does not give people the right to smear elected officials on social media.

I value our right to free speech and I have fought to defend that right, Randall said. The courts decision, however, does not mean that people should make disparaging, untrue, or slanderous remarks about elected officials or their family members on social media. The courts decision states that we may moderate comments on these public forums in accordance with established policies to preserve social media as a meaningful place to exchange ideas in a respectful and civil manner.

Davisons lawsuit was filed after comments he made last July on the Loudoun County Government Facebook page disappeared.

In May, his claims regarding the governments page were dismissed by the court after Facebook confirmed that the county was not responsible for removing Davisons comments and that it had been Facebook software that caused his comments to be erased.

Back in March Judge Cacheris ruled Plowman did not violate the First Amendment by deleting Davisons Facebook posts. However, Davison has since filed a motion to appeal that decision.

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US District judge rules Randall violated Lansdowne resident's First Amendment right - Loudoun Times-Mirror