This chapter draws attention to Craig Brown and Lisa Robertson, who were the principal in-house lawyers providing legal counsel to the city manager and council of Charlottesville. It investigates Brown and Robertson's view that any attempt at outright cancellation of the Unite the Right rally would be immediately overturned by courts as a violation of the First Amendment. It also explains “heckler's veto” as a free speech jurisprudence that raises the rhetoric of defiance and confrontation that could help counterprotesters to shut down the rally. The chapter discusses the First Amendment in modern times that generally stands against acceding to the power of heckling counterprotesters in order to cease messages with which they disagree. It clarifies that when hecklers and protesters gather to express their disagreement with a speaker's message, the rights of that speaker are in tension.
“Will the city-manager form of government fit all cities:—large cities,—machine-controlled cities?”