Battle over background at Democratic National Convention

Protesters' lawyer says Pepsi Center belongs in photos

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger

Photo by Darin Mcgregor © The Rocky

Katherine Archuleta, an aide to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, talks to reporters outside federal court in downtown Denver after closing arguments in a lawsuit over rules for protesters.

Protesters have a constitutional right to be photographed with the Pepsi Center as a backdrop when they gather here later this month for the Democratic National Convention, an attorney for several protest groups argued in federal court Thursday.

"They're coming to Denver in order to be seen at the site of the DNC," lawyer Steven Zansberg said. "In real estate there's a well- worn maxim, 'Location, location, location.' The same applies to protest demonstrations."

The American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of protest groups, sued the city of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service, saying plans for a designated protest zone and parade route are intended to keep them from being seen and heard by all delegates and others attending the DNC, a violation of their free speech rights.

In his closing argument, Zansberg referenced Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The speech would have had much less impact had it been given in front of a large white tent like the one that will separate the designated protest zone at the DNC from the Pepsi Center, he said.

Lawyers for the government argued that the restrictions, which keep the public at a distance, are necessary because of security concerns.

"This is not security as a slogan," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Traskos.

Among the concerns, he added, are bombs, chemical weapons, guns, and people throwing things.

Traskos also noted that the Pepsi Center isn't public property. "This is not the Lincoln Memorial," he said. "This is a private building."

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger, who will decide the case, noted that protesters could stand in a park at Speer Boulevard and Wewatta Street and have the Pepsi Center in the background.

Traskos and Jim Lyons, an attorney for the city, agreed.

"If the case comes down to photo opportunities, the court I think can readily see, the Pepsi Center . . . is readily visible from a variety of places around it," Lyons said.

He also said there will be other opportunities for people to express themselves during the DNC, scheduled Aug. 25-28.

The city has issued 67 permits for groups to use various public spaces, including City Park.

Permits were issued for 15 parades on the designated route. That route starts near Civic Center and travels west on Colfax Avenue, then north on Speer to Larimer Street. Marchers may then walk through the Auraria campus to the protest zone in parking Lot A of the Pepsi Center.

"We have met or exceeded the constitutional requirement (of free speech)," Lyons said.

Krieger said she would issue a written ruling. She did not indicate when she will rule, but the case is being heard on an expedited basis and Krieger said she'll work "diligently."

A separate hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12 to consider similar issues at Invesco Field at Mile High, where Sen. Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination on the convention's final night. The city has not announced where the protest zone at Invesco will be located.

What protesters want

* A public demonstration area that is closer to the Pepsi Center and where the building is visible as a backdrop in photos or video.

* A parade route that passes down Auraria Parkway past the Pepsi Center on the days the convention is scheduled there.

* A parade route down Chopper Circle, the road closest to the Pepsi Center, on the day before the convention.

* A parade route from near the Capitol downtown to one of the federal courthouses to protest detention of political prisoners.

Who's the judge?

U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger will decide the ACLU's lawsuit against the city and the Secret Service.

* Krieger was nominated by President George W. Bush on Sept. 10, 2001, to fill a seat vacated by Daniel S. Sparr.

* A Denver native, she earned her law degree from the University of Colorado Law School in 1979.

* She was in private practice until 1994, when she was named a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

* Her father, Donald Smith Sr., was a state court judge and on the Colorado Court of Appeals.

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