NYC Councilmember Vickie Paladino’s Alleged Islamophobic Posts Spark First Amendment War With Ethics Committee

New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino is hiring a lawyer to fight an attempt by the council Ethics Committee to censure her because of social media posts it deemed Islamophobic.

Paladino, a Republican who represents Queens, has a history of shooting from the hip but says this time, the council overstepped its bounds. She says she has a First Amendment right to post whatever she wants on social media.

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One of the posts in question was critical of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appointment of a Muslim-American woman as his chief immigration officer.

“New York is under foreign occupation. There’s really no other way to put it,” Paladino posted on social media. “Does this administration have one single actual American in it?”

Council Speaker Julie Menin asked the Ethics Committee to act.

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Speaker Menin has already punished Paladino by cutting her committee assignments from seven last year to two this year because of her posts.

City Council members are split over Paladino’s rhetoric

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