Roger Shuler has acted the horse's ass many times. It's easy not to like him, but the al.com columnist Mike Marshall got it right:
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013...ger_s.html
"That's when Judge Claud Neilson lowered the boom. He ordered Shuler to remove the offending articles about Riley from the website, and forbade Shuler from writing anything further about Riley. Shuler ignored both orders, and wound up being arrested at his Shelby County home Oct. 23 for contempt of court and resisting arrest.
Shuler deserves to be punished for contempt of court.
But Judge Neilson violated Shuler's right to free speech when he ordered him not to publish anything further about Riley. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently ruled that you cannot muzzle an American citizen; you cannot prohibit libels anticipated in the future, an excess known as "prior restraint."
The strongest Supreme Court rulings protecting the free speech of Americans have come on behalf of unsympathetic figures, such as Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. This is fundamental to the right of free speech -- everyone has it, and to ensure that we must protect it for the most repugnant and objectionable speech, not just polite words."
If Shuler wrote untrue things there are legal remedies that Riley could turn to. A judge muzzling Shuler is a violation of the First Amendment. Period.
He's still a horse's ass though.