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Councilmember Vickie Paladino sues to block NYC Council discipline over her tweets
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Mar 9, 2026
Modified Mar 9, 2026
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Councilmember Vickie Paladino
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Mar 9, 2026
Modified Mar 9, 2026
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New York City Councilmember Vickie Paladino filed a lawsuit Monday asking a state judge to block the City Council from taking any disciplinary action against her for Islamophobic posts she made on social media, arguing her remarks were protected speech and unrelated to her Council duties.
Paladino, 71, a Queens Republican, asked the state Supreme Court to prohibit the Council from conducting a trial or taking any disciplinary action based on charges issued last week by the Council’s ethics committee.
“The Council intends to set a dangerous precedent for every legislator: if we don’t like your speech, we are coming after you,” the lawsuit charges. “The Court cannot tolerate this naked despotism, which will have a chilling effect on every legislators’ advocacy, particularly for Republicans and Independents.”
A spokesperson for Council Speaker Julie Menin declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit and disciplinary proceedings.
The ethics committee last week charged Paladino with disorderly conduct and violating the Council's anti-harassment and discrimination policy. The charges followed a series of social media posts by Paladino that Menin, other councilmembers and community leaders condemned as Islamophobic.
The committee offered Paladino five days to respond to the allegations in writing, after which she would be scheduled to appear before the panel.
Pending further action by the committee, the full Council could vote to censure or fine Paladino, expel her from the Council or impose other sanctions, according to Council rules. Such measures would require a two-thirds vote of the Council.
The lawsuit was filed by attorney and former mayoral candidate Jim Walden. It alleges that the Council action violates Paladino’s First Amendment protections and that her social media comments do not involve Council business.
“To claim 'harassment' based on Tweets that staff members voluntarily sought out on a third-party platform (X) transforms a workplace-harassment policy into a roving censorship code," Walden wrote.
The lawsuit also argues that Democratic colleagues who made racist, homophobic or otherwise inflammatory statements — including during official proceedings — faced no formal ethics charges.
Paladino’s complaint pointed to Councilmember Chi Ossé, a Central Brooklyn Democrat, for derogatory remarks he made during a budget hearing about Dragonetti Brothers Landscaping, a contractor convicted of insurance fraud, which prompted the Council's Italian-American Caucus to file an ethics complaint against him.
"Dragonetti — that name alone should have been the first red flag in terms of contracting with the city," Ossé said during the hearing. Ossé later defended his comment in an interview with the New York Post, saying he wasn't singling out the contractor's ethnic heritage but rather that the company was "notorious for fraud."
The lawsuit also cited Councilmember Susan Zhuang, a South Brooklyn Democrat, who was arrested for biting a police officer during a protest about a planned homeless shelter in her district. The Council's ethics committee launched an investigation into Zhuang’s conduct but brought no disciplinary charges against her, according to the suit.
The lawsuit alleges Menin secretly struck a deal with the Council’s Progressive Caucus in mid-January to gain their support in exchange for supporting disciplinary charges against Paladino. A spokesperson for the Progressive Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Menin urged the ethics committee last month to act following a Feb. 17 tweet in which Paladino criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s appointment of Faiza Ali, a Muslim American woman and former Council staffer born and raised in Brooklyn, as the city’s chief immigration officer.
“New York is under foreign occupation. There's really no other way to put it,” Paladino posted. “Does this administration have one single actual American in it?”
Menin condemned the remarks in a social media post of her own, stating, “This Islamophobic rhetoric is deeply offensive.” She added, “I condemn it in the strongest terms.”
Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, a Democrat who sits on the ethics committee, said in a post that “Racism and Islamophobia have no place in City Hall or in our [NYC Council], the people's house."
More recently, Paladino criticized Mamdani for praying with sanitation workers before the recent blizzard.
“This is part of Islamic conquest,” Paladino wrote in a Feb. 23 tweet. “The message is very clear — we are being replaced.”
Dora Pekec, senior spokesperson for Mamdani, said in a statement the administration welcomes the Council action.
"Islamophobia and hatred of any kind have no place in our city—least of all from those entrusted with representing New Yorkers in the Council," Pekec said. "The Council Member made reprehensible remarks, and City Hall welcomes the accountability that is now taking place."
This story was updated with additional comment.
Tagged
City Council
Politics
Race And Justice Unit
Zohran Mamdani
new york city
queens
vickie paladino
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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