Protest groups and officials face legal test on free speech
By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published July 25, 2008 at 7:49 p.m.
A fenced-in area for demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention amounts to putting the proverbial "soapbox in the town square" inside a "caged pen" on the "outskirts of town."
Or so the American Civil Liberties Union and a host of protest groups plan to argue in federal court next week.
Not so, the City and County of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service plan to assert.
"To be clear, this so-called 'demonstration zone' is not an isolated area to which the city will confine demonstrators," lawyers for Denver argued in a brief filed on the eve of next Tuesday's trial to settle lingering First Amendment issues raised by protest groups and the ACLU.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger is scheduled to hear a host of concerns raised by the ACLU and the protest groups at the trial.
Essentially, the demonstrators have asserted that their rights to assemble, make their voices heard and engage in activities like handing out leaflets have been threatened by the security plans for the convention.
The city initially pledged to create an area for demonstrators that was within "sight and sound" of the delegates attending the convention, scheduled Aug. 25 to 28, at the Pepsi Center. To that end, it planned an area in Lot A at the arena for demonstrators that will be approximately 47,000 square feet and ringed on three sides by two wire fences 8 feet apart.
At its closest point, the area is 194 feet from the sidewalk that delegates and others may use to get to the Pepsi Center.
The ACLU's suit, which also questioned the city's process for establishing a route for parades planned the week of the convention, called the proverbial "soapbox in the town square" one of the most basic mechanisms for exercising free speech rights.
"Here, the defendants' restrictions - both in isolation and in combination - effectively place that soapbox inside a caged pen and relocate it to the outskirts of town," ACLU lawyers argued in a brief filed late Thursday night.
And the recently announced plans to move the last day of the convention across Interstate 25 to Invesco Field at Mile High further complicate the question, as the ACLU and the protest groups expect to raise the same issues there that they did at the Pepsi Center.
The city and the Secret Service, however, made it clear in their briefs that they will argue that legitimate security concerns make it necessary to impose restrictions in the area near the convention.
"The 2008 DNC is a high-profile event that will attract substantial media coverage and is a time-honored event in the country's process for electing its president," the city's attorneys wrote in a brief. "Accordingly, it provides both a real and symbolic target for persons or groups wishing to attack the American political process."
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July 25, 2008
8:57 p.m.
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LOUIE writes:
Hey, for a group(s) that promised the theatrics of the Democratic Convention, Chicago, 1968; whats a bloody cage match? All that wonderful caged violence reminds me of the dormitories of the West Unit on lockdown; compressed human misery bleeding upon a concrete floor. No where to run, oh let's fingerpaint the walls with each other's entrails. Do you eat soup out of a bowl, or off a plate? Where do I get tickets? Call me Mr. Gasoline. First they threaten the city, hold it mentally hostage, then they complain about the cage. I am sure the cage will be suitable; I too old to chase anybody, better we have walls. What am I protesting anyway? I was leaning democrat, but what the heck I voted republican a few times...It's nice to be fully insured, helps with the demerol, percocet, and other narcotic persciptions I going to need afterwards. An organized, caged, beat your brains out, party; should do this every four years, like the running of the bulls. Foriegners will be welcomed, and formally baptized, in the blood of real American politics. The civics lession understandable in all languages, all nationalities, all races and religions: violence! No civilized society can exist without it.
July 25, 2008
9:10 p.m.
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Cliffjumper writes:
A cage... and this is America land of the free, we should fight this injustice! What a symbol of slavery in modern America!
July 25, 2008
9:13 p.m.
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GetReal writes:
"At its closest point, the area is 194 feet from the sidewalk that delegates and others may use to get to the Pepsi Center."
194 feet doesn't seem unreasonable-
Oh wait, that's way out of range for the average rock, D battery, frozen water bottle and feces throwing Progressive peace activists to effectively and patriotically express their free speech rights.
Now the super sick moonbats with the WristRockets and marbles are another story.
July 25, 2008
9:30 p.m.
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duboisb writes:
What a scandal. Land of the Free. Not true anymore.
The Democrats, like the Republicans are a farce.
Fascists like "GetReal" who claim anyone who supports peace or democracy is into throwing feces and rocks are an insult to civilization and democracy.
You'd expect this kind of comments and repression in a communist country or Nazi Germany, not in the United States.
Bush tactics have invaded the Obama and McCain camp. Voters should "reward" them by voting for either Nader or Barr.
July 25, 2008
9:56 p.m.
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davies writes:
If they don't like the Protest Area, why don't they organize a protest against it?
Seriously, I am generally conservative, but this Protest Area is a crock of poo-poo. Like Tommy says, the libs are all about freedom from government interference when it comes to FISA and monitoring overseas phone calls. But someone mucking up their festivities? Horrors! These scoundrels must be contained - the Bill of Rights be damned!
July 25, 2008
10:22 p.m.
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timeandagain writes:
glenn spangnuolo lives in highlands ranch!!!!
July 26, 2008
9:09 a.m.
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sheepherder writes:
If people would act like adults, they wouldnt need the fences.
July 26, 2008
10:25 a.m.
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Dhakala writes:
I think the city's accommodations for demonstrators are reasonable. I don't think demonstrators can get within 194 feet of the White House or Capitol Building, and you sure can't stage a protest parade along the same route as a Presidential motorcade at the same time. The demonstrators will be seen and heard by the conventioneers, but will be kept sufficiently far away to prevent harassment by the over-zealous.
Better still, the "cage" will be right next to the press area, giving demonstrators high exposure to an audience of millions. I only hope that the press will show the demonstrations fairly.
July 26, 2008
3:04 p.m.
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The_Punnisher writes:
Someone else has read the Constitution and BOR. Good.
You know, GERMANY had those same type of documents, yet they threw them away in support of their great messiah..
It is starting to look more like a repeat of those same days.
All we need is the Reichstag Fire and Krystallnacht...
Just replace the word JEW with PROTESTER.