ACLU statement regarding Baltimore Mayor Young’s Executive Order on Settlement Agreements

"The ACLU and our coalition partners do not support the Executive Order regarding settlement agreements that was issued by Mayor Young’s office. The coalition was promised the opportunity to review the Executive Order before it was finalized, but we did not receive it before it was publicized. 

 

"The Executive Order will not protect the First Amendment rights of survivors of police abuse in Baltimore. The Executive Order says that the City will not impose “unreasonable constraints” on free speech, and we know that the City has been arguing in court that their current practice for gag orders is reasonable. 

 

"The Executive Order does nothing to nullify past gag orders. And the Executive Order still leaves the decision about whether to require a gag order on a survivor of police abuse entirely in the hands of City Solicitor Andre Davis, who gets to decide what is “unreasonable.” 

 

"The Baltimore City Council has the power to end unconstitutional gag orders on survivors for police abuse — once and for all — and the ACLU and the coalition will continue to push hard to make those free speech protections a reality."