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MCLU Urges Appeals Court to Reaffirm That "Right to March Lies at the Core of Our Freedoms"
PORTLAND, ME -- On Monday in Boston the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First
Circuit will hear arguments about the constitutionality of Augusta's free speech
restrictions. The Maine Civil Liberties Union successfully challenged the
city's Parade Ordinance and Mass Outdoor Gathering Ordinance, resulting in a
December 2005 decision striking down Augusta's restrictions as unconstitutional.
"All our
freedoms as Americans depend on the right to free speech being available to
every one of us," said David Webbert, MCLU cooperating counsel and a partner
with the Augusta firm of Johnson & Webbert, LLP. "As the founders
understood in enacting the First Amendment, our ability to make wise public
policy decisions, such as going to war, will be destroyed if we only hear from
the wealthy and well connected."
The MCLU brought the case
in March 2004 on behalf of Timothy Sullivan, one of the organizers of the "March
For Truth" in Augusta, which promoted peace, end to war, universal health care
and benefits for military families. Sullivan, a resident of Castine,
Maine, was charged nearly $2,000 for the permit to hold the march. Larry
Dansinger, who was prevented from holding a march for workers' rights because of
the enormous cost of a parade permit, joined the MCLU lawsuit in the fall of
2004.
In the decision under consideration, Hon. John A. Woodcock,
Jr. held that "the right to march lies at the core of our freedoms" and
"commands this Court's protection." The court found that Augusta improperly
restricted that right by charging Sullivan a profit surcharge of almost $500 and
that the city imposed unjustified conditions on applicants to hold a march,
including notice 30 days in advance and an in-person meeting with the Chief of
Police. The court also held that Augusta must provide a financial hardship
exception to its fee because the right to march must be open to all Americans
regardless of income.
"To march is to speak," said Judge Woodcock
in his 51-page opinion. He went on to write: "A march can be a powerful
and effective community expression of ethos: to celebrate our heroes-as on
Veteran's Day; to applaud our commonly-held values --- as on July 4th; or,
consistent with this Country's longest-held traditions, to protest our policies
and attempt to effect change-as in Selma or Washington, D.C."
"The
First Amendment isn't just for popular speakers and conventional wisdom," said
MCLU Executive Director Shenna Bellows. "Our founders designed the Bill of
Rights specifically for the protection of minority opinions and marginalized
voices."
Judge Woodcock's decision in Sullivan et al. v. City of
Augusta is online at: www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/23280lgl20051222.html