Court Opinion

ID: 9770275
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 15:57:01.042667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:37:20.687696
License: Public Domain

BROOKSHIRE, Justice,
concurring.
At the threshold we are confronted by Article I, section 8 of the Texas Constitution. Article I, section 8, entitled “Freedom of speech and press; libel” generously and liberally provides:
Every person shall be at liberty to speak, write or publish his opinions on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege; and no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or of the press. In prosecutions for the publication of papers, investigating the conduct of officers, or men in public capacity, or when the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for libels, the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the court, as in other eases.
Noteworthy and compelling is the language that every person shall be at liberty to speak, write or publish his opinion on any subject. And no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech and of the press. The dissent opines that since relator Low chose to invoke the court system, he thereby waived to some substantial degree his guarantees of freedom of speech and press under Article I, section 8. I respectfully disagree with that premise.
The protective, being restrictive, orders entered by the trial court invalidated the relator’s constitutional guarantee of free speech and free expression because the restrictive orders constituted an unconstitutional prior restraint upon freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to publish. The Texas Constitution’s grant and guarantee of free speech, free press, and freedom to publish are affirmative and vital grants and guarantees. See Channel j, KGBT v. Briggs, 759 S.W.2d 939, 944 (Tex.1988), (Gonzales, J., concurring).
The Texas Constitution’s provision on free speech has been declared to be more expansive than the United States Bill of Rights and the State free speech guarantees are deemed to be broader than the corresponding Federal guarantees. The rights contained in the Texas Bill of Rights possess ample legal grandeur and make meaningful the guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to publish, peaceable assembly, and the right to petition the government for grievances. It is especially noteworthy and significant that the language of the Texas Constitution is different from and meaningfully broader than the language of the corresponding Federal provisions. See City of Mesquite v. Aladdin’s Castle, Inc., 455 U.S. 283,102 S.Ct. 1070, 71 L.Ed.2d 152 (1982). The free speech amendment of the Texas Constitution — being unlike the Federal Constitution — affirmatively guarantees that all persons have the right to speak, write or publish their opinions on any subject.
Pursuant to our Texas Constitution, it has been and remains the rule of law to sanction a speaker after, rather than before, such speech occurs. Indeed, the Texas Constitution grants the affirmative right to speak on any subject. Tex. Const. Art. I, § 8. A strong presumption exists in all cases under section 8 that any free speech sanctions or prior restraints are therefore contrary to the Texas Constitution. See Ex parte Price, 741 S.W.2d 366, 369 (Tex.1987) (Gonzales, J., concurring). Both legislatively and judicially fashioned prior restraints on free speech are burdened with a massively heavy presumption of unconstitutionality. Ex parte Tucker, 110 Tex. 335, 220 S.W. 75 (1920).
I submit that the freedom of speech guarantee is the threshold, paramount issue and inquiry because in this context, it implicates freedom of communication and freedom to publish. Undoubtedly, relator Low could have expressed himself verbally and aired orally his grievances involved in the underlying lawsuit by stating his position on the street comers or other appropriate and proper public places, provided that no breach of the peace occurred nor nuisance existed. And in the exercise of his freedom of speech, Low could have asked his audience for information relevant to his controversies with *144Gulf States Utilities Company. And in the exercise of his freedom of speech, expression, and communication, he could have solicited and inquired about the identity and knowledge of any of his hearers who had information. Low had the right to indicate and reveal the style and nature of his ease. Although relator is not a professionally trained, graduate-career journalist, the freedom of the press, the freedom to write and publish, and the freedom to petition are precious rights to him. I decline to hold that the freedom of the press and the right to publish are restricted to professional print journalists or media reporters.
As well, I submit, Low could have placed his inquiries upon a portable sign and proceeded up and down the public streets of Beaumont and even stood in the vicinity of the offices of GSU. By like reasoning, I would argue that Low could communicate his complaints and make his inquiries known on a billboard. The portable signs and billboards are forms of speech although those means of expression are not uttered out of the mouth of a human being.
In a labor dispute, the right to picket peacefully and to carry signs on the picket line have their genesis in the freedom of speech guarantee of the Federal constitution. Freedom of speech and of the press are secured by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution against abridgement by the United States. Significantly, these freedoms are among the fundamental personal rights and liberties secured to all persons by the Fourteenth Amendment against abridgement by a state. Judicial district court action has been held to be equivalent to State action. See and compare Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 60 S.Ct. 736, 84 L.Ed. 1093 (1940); Ex parte Tucker, supra. With genuine deference the well-motivated dissent, or its rationale, could be interpreted as a restriction on peaceful picketing. But, I submit, that even if labor-management disputes, including picketing activities, are hotly contested in court; that, nevertheless, both labor and its members, and management and its executives have a constitutional right to purchase space in newspapers to educate and influence the general public concerning the merits of the work stoppage. These potent forces in our society could not and would not be restrained.
The safeguarding of freedom of press and of speech to the laudable ends that men and women may speak as they think on matters vital to them, and thereby falsehoods and errors may be exposed through the processes of education, discussion, communication, and publication is essential and necessary to free, democratic government. Thornhill v. Alabama, supra The founding fathers of our nation, who wrestled at great personal cost our independence from the British crown, had full confidence in the power and efficacy of free and fearless reasoning and communication of various, numerous ideas and ideals to discover and spread economic and political truth. Id.
Erroneous doctrines in many fields, including government, may be refuted and thoroughly discredited by courageous and open exercise of the right of free discussion, communication, and publication.
Then it is a small step or no step at all to communicating and expressing relator’s grievances and inquiries through the use of the public press. I maintain that the freedom of the press, in this context, belongs to the private person or the Texas citizen as well as to the editor and publisher of the newspaper. The trial court’s orders of May 26, 1993, and June 29, 1993, are prior restraints and such prior restraints on freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom to publish are unconstitutional. The same rule applies to prior restraints involving freedom of the press. Yet this very doctrine of unconstitutionality is consistent with the mandate of our Texas charter recognizing Texans’ broad right of freedom of expression. An individual’s rights under our State Constitution do not end at the courthouse step; but rather, the courthouse and the district court are the proper fortresses and zealous guardians of those rights.
The Texas Constitution itself provides for an independent grounding to assert a constitutional cause of action wherein a governmental entity or the officials thereof interfere with an individual citizen’s rights which are protected by the State constitution. Tex. *145Const. Art. I, § 8 assures that no law shall ever be passed curtailing the liberty of speech or the freedom of the press. Relator’s petition for mandamus is based upon the Texas Constitution — but not exclusively so. See, Philip J. Pfeiffer & W. Wendell Hall, Employment and Labor Law, 43 Sw. L.J. 81, 84 (1989); James C. Harrington, Free Speech, Press, and Assembly Liberties Under the Texas Bill of Rights, 68 Tex. L.Rev. 1435, 1490 (1990).
Under this record, there is no imminent and irreparable impairment to the judicial process that will deprive either of the litigants of a just resolution of their controversy. The trial court’s two restrictive orders do not represent the least restrictive means available to prevent any such imagined harm or detriment.
At voir dire, either party, and certainly the real party in interest here has a full and ample right to question the venirepersons concerning any matter that might be prejudicial to that litigant’s rights. If a truly fair and impartial jury cannot be obtained, a change of venue to another county may well be available. Here, the right to air his grievances and inquiries in the public press is but one facet of the same diamond of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of communication, and freedom to publish.
Texans historically have chosen from olden times to assure all the liberties for which Texans heroically struggled, including a specific guarantee of an affirmative right to speak, to write, and to publish on any subject. And the judiciary of Texas is the stronghold and defender of those State constitutionally guaranteed rights.
It is proper to take judicial notice (in today’s television programming) that groups of lawyers acting collectively and other attorneys acting individually through the television media and through announcements have importuned and admonished litigants not to settle their legal matters until those litigants have consulted with a board-certified lawyer in the relevant specialty. These television media announcements are directed at claimants in various stages of their claims negotiations. Under contemporary law, these advocates are not subject to restrictive orders or injunctions. In light of the above, Low cannot be restrained.
At any rate, in the American and Texan traditions, constitutional rights guarantee that all ideas can be expressed in the “market place of ideas” permitting the people to determine the truth. Certainly, GSU can effectively combat any errors or falsehoods published by Low by purchasing equal or greater space in the press or medias.