The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent

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A National Lawyers Guild Report 37 security issues arising from the September 11 attacks. 100 Aside from the legal precedent this set, hundreds of thousands of people arrived in New York City for the protest and met on street corners and at other landmarks, only to be told that they could be arrested for stepping off the sidewalk. In May 2003, the Maine chapter of the National Lawyers Guild sued the city of Augusta, Maine, alleging that a parade ordinance requiring a permit fee was unconstitutional. 101 <strong>The</strong> suit was stayed for 90 days to allow the City to amend the ordinance to be content neutral. <strong>The</strong> City did not file an answer, however, so the Guild requested a default judgment. Since the judge did not want make a default ruling on a constitutional issue, according to Guild members, “he practically begged us to settle, which we did given limited resources.” <strong>The</strong> plaintiff protesters got back 75% of the permit fee. However, when the same plaintiffs were planning their 2004 march, there was not only a larger permit fee but also an indemnification requirement of $10,000. <strong>The</strong> Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Guild jointly filed a suit in federal district court on the permit-fee issue—they received a temporary restraining order on the insurance issue, and the city amended the ordinance. 102 Lynne Williams, regional vice president for the Guild and counsel on the case, said, the ordinance “does not make provision for indigency waiver, effectively denying poor people or people who don’t have the $1,900 to $2,100 for the fee and the surety bond the right of free speech.” 103 At the request of Miami police chief John Timoney, city officials in Miami amended a local ordinance in fall 2003 in anticipation of the arrival of thousands of protesters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meeting. On February 4, 2004, Lake Worth for Global Justice Inc. filed a lawsuit to suspend enforcement of a city ordinance governing public demonstrations pending its revision. Three National Lawyers Guild attorneys represented them. 104 A federal court lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Donald Graham targeted provisions of the code that long predated the FTAA meeting and claimed that the ordinance was an illegal restriction of First Amendment rights. At a hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order, Judge Graham expressed concern about the constitutionality of the ordinances. On February 5, 2004, the judge ordered the City to issue a permit to Lake Worth for Global Justice and any other organizations or individuals wishing to engage in similar activities
38 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Assault</strong> on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent and to give notice to the court of any permit denials so that the court could hold a hearing to review the city’s reasons for the denial. In response to the lawsuit, the City repealed the controversial “Parade and Assembly Ordinance” and substantially revised its permit scheme. <strong>The</strong> ordinance prohibited protesters from carrying props such as balloons and bottles and required a permit for public gatherings of seven or more people if gatherings lasted more than 30 minutes. <strong>The</strong> ordinance was used during the protests as a pretext to unlawfully arrest demonstrators. Before the June 2004 G-8 summit in Georgia, a legal committee drafted the model for an ordinance restricting protests for adoption by local governments. <strong>The</strong> legal committee was suggested by the Secret Service and consisted of attorneys from the Georgia Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney, and city and county lawyers. 105 Three months before the June 2004 G-8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, the nearby city of Brunswick and Glynn County passed an ordinance restricting public demonstrations and requiring a permit for gatherings of six or more people. A month before the summit, the Glynn County Commission voted to relax the ordinance, doing away with the deposit and allowing 100 people to gather without a permit. <strong>The</strong> law requires organizers to pay refundable deposits in the amount of the city’s estimated cost of police protection and cleanup and limits demonstrations to two-and-a-half hours in duration. <strong>The</strong> revised Brunswick ordinance was adopted in May 2004 and provides that “the permitting officer may deny the application for permit upon any of the following reasons or combination of reasons: ….8) <strong>The</strong> plan of the event as proposed is likely to substantially restrict and/or congest traffic [vehicular or pedestrian] on any of the public roads, right of ways, sidewalks or waterways in the immediate vicinity of such event.” <strong>The</strong> City Commission admitted to being advised by U.S. Attorneys to pass these ordinances. 106 In response to the City of New York’s refusal to act on granting march and rally permits, on June 28, 2004, the New York City Council adopted a Right to Assemble Resolution calling on the New York Police Department, the City Parks Department, and Mayor Bloomberg’s office to respect the First Amendment rights of protesters at the 2004 Republican National Convention. It passed by a vote of 44-4. At issue were the denial of rally and march permits, the creation of designated free-speech zones, the use of barricades and excessive force at protests, and the surveillance and infiltration
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