November 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.
