By Kate Wood, Fellow, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 10:25am
People who disagree with the president have as much a right to be heard as those who wish to praise him. Today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the ACLU will be defending the free speech rights of presidential protestors who were discriminated against solely for the messages on their signs.
By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:56am
Recent days have seen significant concern about an unassuming bill with an unassuming name: the "Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011." The bill, H.R. 347, has been variously described as making the First Amendment illegal or criminalizing the Occupy protests.
The truth is more mundane, but the issues raised are still of major significance for the First Amendment.
By Linda Lye, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Northern California at 2:29pm
Around California and all over the country, we have been told that Occupy encampments must come down because of "health and safety concerns." But all around the country, we have seen the police take down these encampments with an overzealous use of pepper spray, tear gas and flash-bang grenades. The real "health threat" we should be concerned about is the threat to the health of our democracy when the government reacts to peaceful political expression with police violence.
Early yesterday morning, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s order, the New York Police Department expelled hundreds of Occupy Wall St. protestors from Zuccotti Park. Mayor Bloomberg asserted public health and safety reasons, but the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) disagrees.
We've released a new Know Your Rights guide to demonstrations and protests, which covers where you can march, when the government can require permits and more.
Yesterday the ACLU of Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit to protect the First Amendment rights of Occupy Nashville protesters. By late afternoon, a judge ordered the state to stop enforcing rules that violated the demonstrators’ freedom of speech and assembly.
The demonstrators have been gathered peacefully at the plaza in front of Nashville's statehouse to express their frustration since October 7. Historically, other groups have been permitted to gather at the plaza without a permit. But last week, the state adopted new rules significantly restricting use of the plaza, requiring a permit and liability insurance, and imposing a curfew by fiat in secret and without notice.
