Blanchard Files Second Federal Lawsuit, Accusing Augusta School Board of Silencing Critics During Public Comment

AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine political activist Nicholas Blanchard has filed a second federal lawsuit, this time targeting the Augusta Board of Education over a public-comment policy he says has been used to cut him off mid-sentence, threaten removal, and shut down criticism while allowing supportive speakers to continue uninterrupted.

Blanchard, represented by the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel, filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Maine challenging the school board’s “Policy BEDH” and related meeting practices. The lawsuit argues that the board’s restrictions on public comment are both overly broad and selectively enforced, allegedly punishing speech that is critical of school officials and board decisions.

According to the complaint and the Institute’s case summary, the policy bars speech deemed “abusive,” “vulgar,” “defamatory,” “disparaging,” “offensive,” “rude,” “gossipy,” or even “negative.” Blanchard contends those terms are vague and subjective, and that Board Chair Martha Witham has used them to silence “virtually any criticism she dislikes,” including comments tied to transgender-related policies, petitions involving school personnel, and sharp rhetorical attacks directed at board members.

The Institute for Free Speech said Witham interrupted Blanchard seven times between January and November 2025. The organization also alleges that in June, Witham directed a police officer to remove Blanchard after he protested what he described as selective enforcement and attempted to finish his remarks.

“School boards cannot censor public comments just because citizens express controversial opinions using passionate language,” Institute for Free Speech attorney Nathan Ristuccia said in the organization’s announcement of the case.

Blanchard, in the same release, framed the dispute as unequal treatment in a forum meant for the public.

“Every citizen deserves a fair opportunity to address their elected officials,” he said, arguing that being cut off while other speakers are allowed to praise the board amounts to viewpoint discrimination.

The lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of the disputed restrictions, obtain court declarations that Blanchard’s constitutional rights were violated, and recover nominal damages and attorneys’ fees, according to the Institute’s case page and press release.

A growing trail of conflict at public meetings

The school-board lawsuit is the latest flashpoint in a broader pattern of confrontations involving Blanchard at public events and meetings, often centered on politics and transgender-related policies.

In January 2025, The Maine Wire reported that blogger Chris J. Barry acknowledged in a post that he had made false allegations about Blanchard to Blanchard’s employer as part of an effort to get him fired. The Maine Wire reported that Blanchard said via text that he was looking into seeking a protection-from-harassment order.

Later in 2025, Blanchard said he planned to sue the Augusta Police Department after an Oct. 18, 2025, incident at Augusta’s Memorial Bridge during what The Maine Wire described as a “No-Kings” rally. The Maine Wire reported Blanchard was arrested at gunpoint after protesters reported seeing what looked like a handgun, and that Blanchard said the device was a nonlethal weapon. He was released and did not face charges, according to the report.

In a January 2026 article, The Maine Wire reported that Blanchard filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the city of Augusta and a police sergeant of unlawfully detaining him at that protest, seeking damages and court declarations that his rights were violated. The report also described a separate confrontation days later at a school committee meeting in York County’s RSU 60, where Blanchard posted online that he had been removed as the district faced heightened scrutiny after a viral dispute over transgender-related policies.

In a statement posted publicly about the new filing, Blanchard described it as his “SECOND FEDERAL LAWSUIT” defending the First Amendment, accusing school officials of interrupting him, cutting him off, threatening police removal, and silencing him for being “negative,” “disparaging,” or “offensive” while allowing pro-board speakers to continue, and, he claimed, to personally attack him without interruption.