Villarreal v. City of Laredo, TX

Reporter who published stories on Facebook was arrested and detained for violation of a Texas statute that made it a crime to, with intent to obtain a benefit, solicit or receive information from a public servant that the public servant has by means of their office or employment and that has not been made public; offense was based on reporter’s confirming last names of people in stories with a Laredo police officer; arrest infringed on her right to ask questions of public officials; officials were not entitled to qualified immunity on that claim because violation of Constitution was “obvious”; statute relied upon by officials was obviously unconstitutional; “doctrine of qualified immunity does not permit government officials to invoke patently unconstitutional statutes”; court rejects First Amendment retaliation claim based on circuit precedent requiring plaintiff’s own speech to have been chilled and plaintiff’s was not, noting that rule is different in other circuits; plaintiff also had legitimate Fourth Amendment claim based on arrest without probable cause, despite fact that they had an arrest warrant; Fourth Amendment violation was obvious, hence no qualified immunity; plaintiff also had valid claim under Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause for selective enforcement and a valid civil conspiracy claim.