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3d ago

Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Shielding Texas Officials in Citizen Journalist Arrest

The move leaves intact a 5th Circuit qualified-immunity ruling that halts her suit, raising questions about protection for routine newsgathering.

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FILE - The Supreme Court is photographed, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 20, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Priscilla Villarreal, an online journalist from Laredo, Texas, stands outside the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals building in New Orleans, Jan. 25, 2023, with her attorney, J.T. Morris, after the court heard arguments in Villarreal's lawsuit against Laredo and Webb County, Texas, authorities. A divided federal appeals court refused on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, to revive the lawsuit of Villarreal, who said she was wrongfully arrested for seeking and obtaining nonpublic information from police in a case that drew attention from national media organizations and free speech advocates.

Overview

  • Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the denial of review, writing that the arrest “obvious[ly]” violated the First Amendment.
  • Priscilla Villarreal was arrested in 2017 under a Texas law that criminalizes soliciting nonpublic information for a benefit after she confirmed and reported victims’ identities.
  • A state judge later threw out the criminal case as unconstitutional, but her civil-rights lawsuit cannot proceed because officials were deemed protected by qualified immunity.
  • The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, upheld immunity after the Supreme Court earlier told it to revisit the case, leaving the divided ruling in place.
  • Villarreal’s appeal drew support from major news organizations and press-freedom groups, while the defendants included former Laredo police chief Claudio Trevino and District Attorney Isidro Alaniz.