U.S. District Court of Minnesota
Volunteer ACLU attorneys
Cooperating attorneys for the ACLU of Minnesota and the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild have filed suit in the United States District Court, against the City of St. Paul on behalf of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. The complaint challenges the City's violation of the Coalition's rights to free speech and due process of law, in connection with the Coalition's plans to demonstrate at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on September 1, 2008. The complaint seeks to require the City of St. Paul to grant the Coalition's request for a demonstration permit in sufficient detail, and to require the City to amend its permit procedure to provide basic due process to permit applicants.
The City has violated the Coalition's right to free speech and due process by failing to issue anything other than an ambiguous "Conditional Alternative Permit" in response to the Coalition's demonstration application. The current "Conditional Alternative Permit" imposes police guidelines that conflict with City ordinance and violate the First Amendment while failing to accommodate the large, national demonstration expected. The permit provides for a 2000 square foot triangle, across the street from the Xcel Center. Use of that space is allowed for less than 2 hours, and requires that the march proceed along a 1000-foot long turn about, then turn back on itself, and return to the State Capitol Building on the same road they marched in on. This limited time and space cannot accommodate 50,000 protesters.
The City of St. Paul simultaneously maintains that the current permit provides a sufficient answer to the Coalition's application, and that the current permit does not constitute a final permit sufficient to warrant an appeal. Such an ambiguous position restrains both the Coalition's speech rights and its access to administrative process. In the interest of free speech and rigorous public discourse, the Coalition must be granted its permit in full, with sufficient time to continue planning for the influx of up to 50,000 demonstrators in St. Paul in September, 2008.
The Honorable Judge Ericksen has now heard the case and rendered her decision. The Court granted the City's desired route and refused to order changes to the time and duration of the march.
"We are disappointed in the final decision regarding both route and time," stated Teresa Nelson, Legal Counsel, ACLU. "We understand and appreciate the City has significant security concerns with regard to the Convention, but we continued to seek a meaningful balance between those concerns and our clients' right to effectively deliver their message of peace. The Court has simply deferred to the City's stated concerns with no real analysis of them."
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