• by Ray Schultz , February 27, 2025

The court order that required a Mississippi newspaper to remove an editorial critical of local officials has been vacated. 

Chancellor Crystal Wise Martin, of the Chancery Court of Hinds County, rescinded the restraining order against The Clarksdale Press Register after the city of Clarksdale dropped its libel suit against the paper. 

Martin had ordered The Press Register to “remove the editorial, ‘Secrecy and Deception Erode Public Trust,’ from their online portals and make it inaccessible,” which critics saw as a form of prior restraint and a violation of the First Amendment.

The libel suit concerned an editorial that said the public had not been notified about a meeting on a tax resolution. 

The city’s attorney argued that the hearing was open to the public and could be streamed online, News Channel 3, WREG, reports.

Martin wrote that the petition for the temporary restraining order was “Well taken.” The injury, Martin said, was “defamation of public figures through actual malice in reckless disregard of the truth.” 

However, it is unusual for such an order to be issued before the case is even tried. And the alleged defamation was mild as such things go. 

The suit was abandoned on Monday, although Mayor Chuck Espy and the paper disagree over whether a clarification is to be run.