Time for a legal quiz! Guess which of the following is part of a lawsuit filed in court in the Western District of Washington on July 21, 2025:
- The greatest cat that ever lived (stated as a factual allegation)
- The Navy's Blue Angel pilots referred to as "a cadre of emotionally fragile snowflakes," bringers of "state-sanctioned acoustic torture," and "cowards," with an Instagram account run by "Constitutionally illiterate bureaucrats"
- Unambiguously coarse terms
- American citizens being blinded and muzzled (at the same time!)
- Primitive limbic systems overruling medication
- Pure debilitating terror, sadistic suffering, and the loss of a "sentient sundial"
Made your selection? We must inform you that this was a trick question, as all of the aspects mentioned above are part of Lauren Ann Lombardi's very real lawsuit against the commander of the Blue Angels, their public affairs officer, and an unnamed person serving as their social media administrator.
While the suffering of Layla, her dearly departed cat, provides context in the filing, Lombardi is suing over being blocked by the Blue Angels' Instagram account. As the Navy fliers are government employees, Lombardi contends her First Amendment rights were violated by having a viewpoint-based restriction on her ability to petition the government for redress of grievances. Is she right, or is her argument out there in the wild blue yonder?
Negative, Ghost Rider, the Pattern Is Full
The Blue Angels are a flying team made up of personnel from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Created in 1946, they remain an extremely popular attraction at air shows around the country. Specializing in precision control over their F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters, they perform challenging aerial maneuvers while in a tight grouping that has them mere feet from one another.
Admiring the skill of these pilots performing death-defying feats has won the group a legion of dedicated fans. Listening to the sometimes ear-splitting roar of their planes has also raised the ire of a number of detractors. For a while, at least two of those ears were pointed and tufted with fur.
There Ain't No Sanity Claws
Layla May Lombardi-Bouchtia was neither a pilot nor a fan of the noise made by pilots like the Blue Angels as they passed over her house each year during an air show in Seattle, Washington. Layla was a cat who liked to enjoy the sun as she sprawled out in the garden of the house she lived in with Lauren Ann Lombardi.
According to Lombardi, Layla was not a fan of the annual fly-overs made by the Blue Angels, either. The flyovers would send Layla scurrying in terror to hide under furniture. This was exacerbated in 2024, when the elderly and ill Layla once again panicked at the sound of the jets of the Blue Angels. In her lawsuit, Lombardi alleges that this made things even worse for her already infirm kitty, as she experienced "sadistic suffering" at the hands of "relentless noise pollution." Not long after, Layla was euthanized as her health deteriorated to a point of no return.
However, seeking damages for Layla's passing is not what Lombari's lawsuit is about. The Blue Angels maintain a presence on several social media sites, including one on Instagram. In 2023, Lombardi reacted to the yearly arrival of the Blue Angels by leaving numerous comments on their Instagram. These included requesting they "Stop with your F*****g bull***t you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. F*** off," and suggesting that “Nobody gives a f*** about your stupid little planes.” She also started a petition to have the Blue Angels banned from performing over Seattle.
Lombardi states that the Blue Angels' blocked her Instagram account on August 5, 2023. Her suit claims that since they are a government agency, blocking her account violates her First Amendment constitutional rights. In addition to not being able to view discourse on their page, she was denied the constitutional right to criticize the government. Lombardi alleged that she was being muzzled while the rest of the country was being blinded from viewing her opinions on the Blue Angels.
By the letter of the First Amendment, an official government social media account can't block anyone from viewing its content. In reality, it's not that simple. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "State Action" Test should be applied, which clarifies that someone with proper authority speaking on a recognized government account is considered to be speaking for the government.
Still, this means that instead of a concrete rule, what's legal and what isn't remains somewhat nebulous. It became a concern during President Donald Trump's first term, as he was wont to issue what appeared to be official statements from his Twitter (now X) account that he had blocked people from viewing.
Lombardi, who insists she didn't violate the Instagram terms of service, is seeking to have the Blue Angels remove all blocks and be forbidden to ban anyone just because they have a difference of opinion. In addition to legal fees and any other relief the court deems just, she requests that the defendants receive mandatory remedial training on the importance of the First Amendment. Regardless of the outcome, one can hope that if Layla is sprawling in a sun-drenched garden somewhere across the Rainbow Bridge, there are no F/A-18s anywhere to be found.
Related Resources
- Social Media Privacy Laws (FindLaw's Consumer Protection Law)
- Understanding the Legal Issues for Social Networking Sites and Their Users (FindLaw's Legal Technology)
- Filing a Lawsuit (FindLaw's Litigation and Appeals)
