City of Sheboygan v. Reisinger [1]

Jennifer Reisinger operates Sheboygan Spirit [2], a website pertaining to the government and community of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Brat City Web Design [3], a site promoting her web development business.  Reisinger's business site contained a link to the Sheboygan Police Department [4].  On October 19, 2007, the city attorney for the City of Sheboygan sent Reisinger a cease-and-desist letter [5] requesting that she remove the link to the police department from her site. The letter said that "maintenance of this link could be construed as having been authorized or endorsed by the City and/or its Police Department."

Reisinger initially removed the link but nevertheless received a call from the Sheboygan Police, telling her they were conducting "an official police investigation relative to the linking of her Web site to the City of Sheboygan Police Department."  Reisinger then hired an attorney who advised her to put the link back up.  Her attorney sent several letters to the chief of police [6], to the mayor [7], and to the city attorney [8] stating that the city had given no legal basis for its cease-and-desist order.

On November 6, 2007, the city notified Reisinger that it had decided against taking legal action, and the mayor publicly apologized for the incident in an editorial [9] in the local newspaper.

However, the issue doesn't appear to have gone away.  On August 20, 2008, Reisinger filed a lawsuit [10] in federal court in Milwaukee against the City of Sheboygan, its mayor, police chief, and city clerk, claiming that the defendants violated her First Amendment rights.  According to her complaint [10], the city's initial demand that she remove the link to the police department and the subsequent criminal investigation were done in retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez.  As a result of the defendants' actions, she claims she "suffered a significant decrease in income, resulting in an estimated 53% decrease in her
personal annual income, significant emotional distress and concern for her safety."