### Supreme Court Orders New Review of Case Involving Texas Online Journalist's Arrest

The Supreme Court instructed a federal appeals court on Tuesday to re-examine the case of Priscilla Villarreal, a Texas-based online citizen journalist, who claimed she was wrongfully arrested. This high-profile case has garnered significant attention from national media and free speech advocates. Known online as La Gordiloca, Villarreal had her efforts to sue law enforcement officers and other officials thwarted by a divided federal appeals court, which initially ruled against her.

The Supreme Court's decision effectively nullified the previous ruling, directing the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reassess Villarreal's case. This directive follows the Supreme Court's June ruling in another Texas case, which granted a former local official a renewed opportunity to pursue her claim of wrongful arrest.

In the earlier case, Sylvia Gonzalez, a former city council member from Castle Hills, a suburb of San Antonio, argued that her arrest was an act of retaliation linked to a political feud. Similarly, Villarreal's 2017 arrest came under scrutiny when a state judge dismissed the criminal charges, declaring the law used in her arrest unconstitutional. Villarreal then sought to file a damages lawsuit against the involved officials.

The full 5th Circuit Court had previously ruled by a narrow 9-7 margin that the officials Villarreal sued were entitled to legal immunity. Villarreal’s arrest stemmed from her obtaining nonpublic information from a police officer, including the identities of a suicide victim and a family involved in a car accident, and posting it on Facebook. The arrest affidavit alleged that Villarreal’s motive was to acquire more followers on the social media platform.