Wyoming citizens deserve unfiltered, direct communication with their elected officials. Yet, thousands of emails from constituents to their legislators have been blocked by the State’s email quarantine system—silencing voices and possibly violating constitutional rights.
Honor Wyoming recently learned that these emails have been blocked through the State’s email quarantine system. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, the Wyoming Legislative Services Office has been censoring communications with legislators. A potential violation of both the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 20 of the Declaration or Rights in the Wyoming Constitution.
Honor Wyoming sent the following letter to the Legislative Services Office as well as key lawmakers:
The situation raises significant questions about free speech and the ability of citizens to communicate with their elected representatives, which are core principles protected by both the U.S. Constitution and the Wyoming Constitution.
Let’s break it down.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Blocking emails from voters to legislators infringes on these rights, especially if it prevents citizens from expressing their views or seeking action from their representatives. Courts have consistently held that government actions restricting speech or access to officials must meet a high bar—typically a compelling state interest and narrow tailoring—to be constitutional. If the Wyoming state email system is “silently” quarantining thousands of voter emails without clear justification, notification, or an appeals process, it could be argued that this constitutes an unreasonable barrier to these First Amendment rights.
The Wyoming Constitution, in Article 1, Section 20, also protects free speech, stating: “Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.” Additionally, Article 1, Section 21 guarantees the right to petition: “The right of petition … shall never be denied.” If the state’s email quarantine system is systematically preventing communications from reaching legislators without voters’ knowledge, it would be violating these provisions by effectively denying citizens their ability to speak to and petition their elected officials.
The highest order of protected speech is political speech between citizens and their lawmakers. And a bill was filed in January to correct this problem by ensuring ALL emails reach lawmakers, stopping government censorship in its tracks. HB338 would have ensured transparency and accountability by requiring daily updates on blocked emails and a process for removing wrongful quarantines.
And yet in a dangerous blow to free speech, the Wyoming House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Chip Neiman and Majority Leader Scott Heiner, refused to hear the bill during the 2025 legislative session.
HB338 simply required that not less than one (1) time per day on each legislative day during a legislative session, the legislative service office had to publish or update a list of all internet domain names and internet protocol addresses that are being quarantined or prevented from delivering email to legislators in any way.
Any person whose email communications to legislators that had been quarantined by the Legislative Services Office would have been able to contact the Legislative Service Office to request that their current and future emails be removed from quarantine and delivered to legislators. The Legislative Service Office would then have to remove requested domain names or internet protocol addresses from quarantine and allow delivery from the name or address within two (2) days of receipt of the request unless the release from quarantine or allowed delivery poses an actual security threat to the information technology systems of the state of Wyoming.
The fact that House leadership refused to take action on HB338 creates the appearance that this is more than a technical glitch; there might be a systemic restriction on constitutional rights.
Public trust in government agencies and politicians is at an all-time low. Conservative grassroots America has been censored, shadow-banned and silenced to the point that there is zero patience or appetite for any more missteps when it comes to their First Amendment rights. Especially here in Wyoming.
It is paramount that our lawmakers work together to assure Wyoming voters that the days of government agencies engaging in the censorship business are behind us. We need political leadership that proactively takes a stand for Protecting Free Speech between Citizens and their Lawmakers.