HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council this week announced new procedural rules banning any public complaints or allegations against town employees during meetings, a move constitutional experts say may violate First Amendment protections of free speech.

Besides restricting the content of the public comments, the new guidelines will also limit each speaker to two minutes.

While the two-minute limit is constitutional if it’s applied evenly, banning all criticism of employees is problematic and could be challenged, said David Hudson , a First Amendment fellow at Freedom Forum who also teaches at the Belmont University College of Law in Nashville.

Criticism of government officials is really the core of free speech under the First Amendment, Hudson said, adding that such bans are

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