American Civil Liberties Union : Additional Statements of Leslie Weise and Alex Young

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Additional Statements of Leslie Weise and Alex Young (11/21/2005)

Leslie Weise (Age 40, Attorney):

No American should be denied their Constitutional right to free speech because of a bumper sticker, a t-shirt, or any other peaceful expression of a viewpoint. Our president is elected to represent and lead all Americans, and he should feel comfortable speaking with all of us at his town hall conversations.

It is a sad day when Americans are forcibly removed from a public event by White House event staffers solely because of the content of a bumper sticker on their car. For months we have been seeking an explanation as to why this happened to us, but regrettably we have received nothing but stonewalling from anyone involved – including the White House. We now intend to pursue legal remedies in order to obtain the answers we deserve, and to prevent this from happening to other citizens in the future.

Alex Young (Age 26, Information Technology Professional):

Today’s lawsuit is important to protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans. I applaud the ACLU for helping us take action to protect these rights.

In our lawsuit, we will “follow the earpiece” and reveal which higher-ups were giving orders to the White House event staffers that removed us.

We must continue to investigate the White House pattern of removing citizens across the country from presidential town hall meetings because of viewpoint alone. The White House has put the First Amendment rights of every American in jeopardy, and it’s time for someone to fight back. Today, we do that.

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