The Baltimore Sun reports that a federal appeals court denied a motion for a rehearing on Baltimore’s policy of requiring citizens to sign nondisclosure agreements in settlements in police misconduct cases, according to the ACLU of Maryland.
The civil rights organization wrote on Twitter that the judge denied the city’s request for another hearing on a July ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which found the practice unconstitutional. In a statement, Ashley Overbey, who brought the lawsuit against the city after it attempted to deny her some of her settlement money when she commented on her experience with police on social media, said the decision supports the public’s First Amendment rights: “I stood up for what’s right and I am absolutely ecstatic about this ruling in favor of the people and their free speech rights.” The court ruled in July that the agreements equated to “hush money,” as Overbey argued the city improperly denied her half of her settlement after she responded to comments online about her experience with police.