Taylor dispute highlights ongoing First Amendment battles in Michigan

Early in February, a city of Taylor official paused while she prepared to read a statement.

"We have a comment from Charles Blackwell, a political activist who likes to make false accusations against public figures that have no basis in fact," the city official said during the city council meeting. "Here is his false comment."

The comment was read into the record, and then the city official apologized for having to read it.

The exchange was part of another battle a free-speech watchdog group has had with several Michigan municipalities in this state over alleged unconstitutional rules regarding public commentary.

In the instance in Taylor, it involved Blackwell, a disabled resident who is described as a political activist and has a history with legal battles with Detroit metro area cities.

The dispute in Taylor began in May 2025. That's when Blackwell requested accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and have his written public comment read aloud.

The May 2025 email from Blackwell said, “Good Evening Everyone: Mayor Woolley has turned into corrupt Mayor Rick Sollars. There are many indicators that corruption has possibly influenced Mayor Woolley’s decision to arbitrarily award the towing contract to JT Crova towing company.”

The city refused to read it, at first. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the city of Taylor's attorney told Blackwell, “Your comment was not read because it is defamatory and defamation is not protected by the First Amendment … ”

FIRE wrote the city a letter saying its argument for not reading the comment was legally unsound.

“A city council is not a court of law," said FIRE Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr in a statement. "Government officials don’t get to declare, on the spot, that criticism they receive is ‘defamatory’ and censor it. The First Amendment doesn’t work that way.”

The city of Taylor has been reading Blackwell's emails at recent meetings.

"I am a firm believer in the First Amendment and an individual’s right of free speech," the city of Taylor's attorney, Edward Plato, said in an email. "However, defamation of an individual is clearly not protected speech and no individual has a right to defame another individual. Mr. Blackwell's comments, although they serve no useful purpose, have been regularly read at the Taylor City Council meetings, including tonight’s [Feb. 3] Council meeting."

It wasn't the first time Blackwell had been involved in a First Amendment battle with a Michigan city.

In 2021, Blackwell posted critical comments on the Inkster Police Department's Facebook page about the city's police chief, according to ACLU-Michigan. Blackwell also posted about the city's mayor’s delinquent property taxes on the mayor's official Facebook page. The comments were deleted and Blackwell was blocked from the Facebook page.

Blackwell filed a federal lawsuit and ACLU-Michigan joined the case. In August 2022, the case was settled when the city of Inkster agreed to adopt a social media policy that was friendly to the First Amendment, train city employees and council members on the policy and pay damages and attorneys' fees, according to ACLU-Michigan.