Point of Order

[Guest George A Ruhe]

As I understand it after,some study of "RROR - Revised" the use of "Point of Order" is to control the members of a legislative body (Eg: A Board of Education )and can be used only within, and against the members of said body.

When there is a Public Participation Section at an open meeting, can any member of the legislative body invoke "Point of Order" against a public speaker to intimidate and / stifle citizen comments, or for any other reason for that matter, or is it exclusively the roll of the Chair to maintain order and /or to ortherwise provide some level of flexibility to the person speaking?

I would suppose that a member could invoke "Point of Order" against the chair.

[George Mervosh]

A point of order is nothing more than a member calling the chair's attention to a violation of the rules.....it has no other purpose.

[Tim Wynn]

As I understand it after,some study of "RROR - Revised" the use of "Point of Order" is to control the members of a legislative body (Eg: A Board of Education )and can be used only within, and against the members of said body.

A point of order is not used against members. It is used to point out that the rules are being violated and to force the chair to make a ruling on the matter. See RONR(10th ed.), p. 240.

When there is a Public Participation Section at an open meeting, can any member of the legislative body invoke "Point of Order" against a public speaker to intimidate and / stifle citizen comments,

This sounds like a rather leading question. Unfortunately, it's too vague to give a specific answer. If a member believes a rule is being broken, a point of order can be raised, and the subsequent enforcement of the rule may stifle a citizen or two; it may even intimiadate some, but parliamentary forms are not designed to intimidate, nor should they be used in such a way.

or is it exclusively the roll of the Chair to maintain order and /or to ortherwise provide some level of flexibility to the person speaking?

The assembly (the members meeting) has control over the meeting. While it is the chair's duty to enforce the rules, any ruling from the chair is subject to appeal, in which case it will be decided by the assembly. See RONR(10th ed.), p. 247.

I would suppose that a member could invoke "Point of Order" against the chair.

If a member believes that the chair is violating the rules, he can and should raise a point of order on the matter.

[J. J.]

As I understand it after,some study of "RROR - Revised" the use of "Point of Order" is to control the members of a legislative body (Eg: A Board of Education )and can be used only within, and against the members of said body.

When there is a Public Participation Section at an open meeting, can any member of the legislative body invoke "Point of Order" against a public speaker to intimidate and / stifle citizen comments, or for any other reason for that matter, or is it exclusively the roll of the Chair to maintain order and /or to ortherwise provide some level of flexibility to the person speaking?

I would suppose that a member could invoke "Point of Order" against the chair.

Assuming that some rule (inclusive of statute) that permits non members to speak, if those speaking members were to violate some rule, such as one of the rules of decorum, a member could raise a Point of Order.

It depends on what the speaker said/did.