The New York City Council on Monday formally moved to dismiss Council Member Vickie Paladino\u2019s lawsuit against the legislative body, saying her claims are \u201cmeritless\u201d \u2013 but in doing so, city lawyers conceded that the council may not actually have the legal standing to expel the Queens firebrand over her statements on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The council ethics committee charged Paladino with disorderly conduct earlier this month<\/a> for five Islamophobic posts she made on X that they say violate the council rules and anti-harassment policy. The posts called for \u201cthe expulsion of Muslims from western nations\u201d after the Bondi Beach terror attack, said that the city is \u201cunder foreign occupation\u201d when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed a Muslim immigrant affairs commissioner who previously worked with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and alleged that a post about the mayor\u2019s Ramadan prayers with sanitation workers indicated \u201cIslamic conquest,\u201d among other things. The committee summoned Paladino to a hearing, after which they would decide on consequences that could range from losing a seat on a committee to being expelled from the council. Paladino sued, saying her speech was protected<\/a> by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n In its motion to dismiss, lawyers from the New York City Law Department representing the council contend that Paladino has gotten ahead of herself, saying \u201cher claims based on speculative discipline she has not received, and may never receive, are premature.\u201d In other words, the council member has yet to even face a disciplinary hearing on the matter \u2013 how can she have been harmed by consequences that have not happened yet?\u00a0<\/p>\n The suit suggests, however, that while the ethics committee can punish Paladino \u2013 \u201cwithin limits\u201d \u2013\u00a0it maybe would not have the footing to go so far as to expel her. Specifically, it says that the First Amendment does not protect Paladino \u201cfrom political retaliation for her public conduct unless she is stripped of her office or prevented from doing her job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Walden, Paladino\u2019s lawyer, saw the city\u2019s implication as a victory. \u201cAlready we won half the battle since Council concedes they cannot expel Council Member Paladino,\u201d he told City & State via text. \u201cThe rest of their lame arguments will fail soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked for comment on the matter, council spokesperson Jack Lobel said in a statement, \u201cThis Council is committed to upholding clear standards of workplace conduct, and its Committee on Standards and Ethics is reviewing this matter to determine whether discipline is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n The city also pushed back on Paladino\u2019s argument that her comments, which she characterized as policy views distinct from her City Council X account, are protected by the First Amendment. The city argues that her account<\/a> being titled \u201cCouncilwoman Vickie Paladino\u201d and the \u201cnature\u201d of her posts \u201care plainly meant to create the association between the account and her Council work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The city\u2019s response further picks apart Paladino\u2019s attempts to compare some of her council colleagues\u2019 comments, which she argues warrant discipline. Paladino argued that Council Member Chi Oss\u00e9 should be disciplined for calling President Donald Trump a pedophile, for example. The suit makes the case that that\u2019s not an apt comparison to Paladino\u2019s comments about Muslims, since unlike religious groups, pedophiles are not a protected class under the Fourteenth Amendment.<\/p>\n The council ethics committee\u2019s letter to Paladino, made public as an exhibit in the council\u2019s motion to dismiss, reveals that she was notified of charges on March 2. The committee was alerted to her conduct on Dec. 15, the day after she posted on X about needing \u201cthe expulsion of Muslims from western nations.\u201d Previous council Speaker Adrienne Adams referred her to the ethics committee for that statement. After reviewing four subsequent Islamophobic posts, including ones targeting former council employee Faiza Ali, Council Speaker Julie Menin again referred the matter to the ethics committee on Feb. 23. The committee voted unanimously to charge Paladino with disorderly conduct under the council\u2019s rules.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n