A First Amendment dispute over restrictions on social media speech has been resolved, meaning the state Supreme Court is no longer being asked to weigh in for the first time on whether certain internet speech is out of bounds.
In addition to being a first, the case had promised to be one of the more unusual before the state’s highest court — a free speech claim by a self-described intersex social media star who argued that a court order prohibiting her from talking about her “journey” with her much younger husband could cost her a multi-million dollar television contract.
The Supreme Court agreed to take Sanchez v Sanchez on an expedited basis last month after Superior Judge Carletha S. Parkinson issued a restraining order prohibiting 48-year Hillary Sanchez from posting on social media about her estranged husband, 24-year old Nate Sanchez of Waterbury.
When the court agreed to hear Sanchez v. Sanchez, it had looked as if the justices were getting a straightforward complaint about an infringement of free speech.
But Parkinson agreed to revisit her decision a week ago at another hearing and has since lifted the portion of her order that prohibited Hillary Sanchez from contacting or posting about her husband on social media.
Parkinson said in a written decision that, upon reconsideration, her restraining order was overly broad. She also said there is no precedent for the Sanchez dispute, writing “There is no Connecticut case like the one before the court, in which a respondent’s social media postings were restrained by a temporary restraining order …”
The judge has predicted that questions about potential limits to speech on social media are certain to resurface, a point on which Hillary Sanchez’s lawyer, Mario Cerame, agreed.
“We’re pleased that the trial court ultimately came to the right decision,” Cerame said. “Speech rights on social media are becoming increasingly important to society and I think this issue will come up again soon.”
Nate Sanchez, who applied for the restraining order, had complained that his wife, who he plans to divorce, was posting untruths about him on the internet and as a result, he was bombarded with harassing posts by social media followers who had contributed to billions of views of her posts.
“She’s saying all those things, that I’m — I’m lazy, that I’m a bum, that I used her for money, that she supported me, that she — that I’m a cheater, that I’m like screwing everyone that walks,” Nathaniel Sanchez said during a hearing on the restraining over.
“Like, she’s making me out to be this person that I’m not. It makes me feel bad, cause I have family and friends that just look at me like I’m this crazy person, and they’re like ‘I never seen you like this,’ and it’s — it’s like every — she’s online every day.”
Hillary Sanchez explained what she believed would be at stake if she were blocked from commenting about him or their marriage on social media.
“I have, in my hand, and you can review it … a two-million-dollar contract with a national syndicated talk show and a reality show that has been executed,” Hillary Sanchez said. “I got approached by the production company. I signed this deal. Our social media posts have reached over 22.5 billion views. We are social media people.”
“People are interested in us,” she said. “I’m 48. He’s 24. We were married. They are interested in how the demographics of this marriage happen, what is going on, was I his sugar mamma, was he a sugar baby. There are all types of questions in the public.
“I’m not harassing him. I’m simply doing what I’m contractually obligated to do. I’m posting our wedding pictures, pictures of us when we were on dates. I can have communication. I can talk about my experience with my husband, and what he was doing, and what he was doing to me, storytime, teatime. It’s nothing threatening. It’s nothing harassment, whatsoever.”
Hillary and Nate Sanchez could be reached to discuss their dispute.
Hillary Sanchez said on one of her social media posts that she is an intersex person who was born with both male and female genitalia.
Nate Sanchez has asserted that he thought he was marrying a woman but discovered later that, in his view, he did not. This is noted in a routine, non-criminal report in July by a Waterbury police officer. When the report was written, the Sanchezes were estranged and Nate Sanchez was living in Waterbury
Public records show that until her arrival in Connecticut, Hillary Sanchez was a longtime resident of Washington.
Washington Department of Corrections records show she had been arrested nine times between 1996 and 2015 on various charges.
Around 2002, she persuaded people she had won a $93 million lottery and was accused of using the supposed win as collateral to obtain financing on purchases, including a $140,000 Hummer. She was then 27, living in Parkland, Washington, and using the name Hillary Lee Walls. She is identified in police reports there as a man.
The scam fell apart, according to an article in the Seattle Times, when then-Hillary Lee Walls appeared on television claiming to have a winning Mega Millions ticket and was recognized by police, who had outstanding warrants for her arrest on forgery and theft charges.
After being taken into custody, the article reports that she was arrested again after persuading a bail bondsman to arrange her release by accepting the phony lottery win as collateral for a bond.