Ohio man asks U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate lawsuit related to his arrest over satirical Facebook page mocking local police

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A Parma, Ohio, man requested the U.S. Supreme Court reinstate his federal lawsuit against officers who arrested him in 2016 for creating a Facebook page that lampooned the local police department. The lower federal courts had dismissed the case on the grounds that the officers had qualified immunity. 

Key Players

Anthony Novak of Parma, Ohio, created the parody Facebook page. Per the Institute for Justice, Novak “has lived in Parma for most of his life. In his free time, he enjoys writing comedy sketches with his friends.”

Members of the Parma Police Department (PPD) arrested Novak in 2016 for “disrupting public services.”

The Onion, a satirical digital media company based in Chicago, originated in 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin, as a print satirical publication. The company filed an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court in support of Novak.

Further Details

Located on the southern edge of Cleveland, Parma leans moderately liberal. 

On March 1, 2016, Novak created the PPD parody Facebook page and published several false posts, including a program for sex offenders to be “removed from the sex offender registry and accepted as an honorary police officer” by completing puzzles and quizzes. 

One post said that PPD was hiring new officers but “strongly encouraged” minorities not to apply. Others claimed that PPD was offering abortions to teenagers in police vans and that a new rule prohibited residents from feeding the homeless in “an attempt to have the homeless population eventually leave our City due to starvation.”

The posts were published over a 12-hour period. Several complaints were made to PPD, and the page was deleted shortly thereafter. Three weeks later, Novak was arrested. Police searched his home, confiscating both his and his roommate’s laptops, hard drives, game consoles, and phones as evidence. 

In August 2016, a city court jury found Novak not guilty of disrupting public services, and he proceeded to sue PPD for violating his Free Speech rights, FOX 8 reported. 

On Oct. 10, 2017, Novak filed a federal lawsuit against his arresting officers. PPD asserted qualified immunity and moved to dismiss the case. Qualified immunity is a legal status that protects officers from liability in civil lawsuits, unless “a ‘clearly established’ statutory or constitutional right” is violated, per the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University.  

On April 5, 2018, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, nominated by former President Bill Clinton, denied the PPD’s motions. Polster wrote that Novak had alleged facts that, if proven true, would defeat the officers’ claims of qualified immunity.  

On July 29, 2019, the PPD’s appeal was unanimously dismissed by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court questioned if protected speech could serve as the basis for probable cause. 

“When it comes to parody, the law requires a reasonable reader standard, not a ‘most gullible person on Facebook’ standard,” wrote Circuit Judge Amul Thapar, nominated by former President Donald Trump. The three-judge panel included Circuit Judges Chad Readler, also nominated by Trump, and Gilbert Merritt, nominated by former President Jimmy Carter.  

However, the court said that the case raised new questions about the interaction of protected speech and probable cause. More facts were needed to determine if the officers’ actions were justified. Novak’s case was “prime ground” for concern, as Ohio state law gave “police cover to retaliate against all kinds of speech under the banner of probable cause,” wrote Thapar. The case was remanded to the district court for review.  

On Feb. 24, 2021, Polster dismissed Novak’s lawsuit. In a reversal of his previous ruling, Polster wrote that since the officers had probable cause to believe that Novak had broken the law, “the doctrine of qualified immunity justifiably shields them from personal liability.” 

On April 29, 2022, Novak’s appeal of Polster’s ruling was dismissed by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on the same grounds. Thapar wrote the unanimous opinion of a three-judge panel that included Readler and Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, nominated by former President George W. Bush.  

“But while probable cause here may be difficult, qualified immunity is not,” Thapar wrote, adding that because Novak had not “established that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest him,” that PPD was entitled to qualified immunity. 

Outcome

Novak asks U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate lawsuit 

On Sept. 26, Novak filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. 

On Oct. 4, The New York Times reported that The Onion filed an amicus curiae brief, defending Novak’s right to create parody without a disclaimer. The brief cited the First Amendment, arguing that government restriction of freedom of expression was dangerous, especially with regard to criticism of government agencies.

Headlines in the brief included “Parody Functions By Tricking People Into Thinking That It Is Real,” “Because Parody Mimics ‘The Real Thing,’ It Has The Unique Capacity To Critique The Real Thing,” “A Reasonable Reader Does Not Need A Disclaimer To Know That Parody Is Parody,” and “It Should Be Obvious That Parodists Cannot Be Prosecuted For Telling A Joke With A Straight Face.” 

In response, the city of Parma released a statement that the Facebook page was not a parody, arguing that it “went beyond mimicry” as it claimed to be the official departmental Facebook page and copied verbatim an official department warning. 

As of Jan. 5, 2023, there were no further developments.