ACLU: First Amendment ‘Suspended in Ferguson’

[Hissyspit]

Source: MSNBC

ACLU: First Amendment ‘suspended in Ferguson’

08/19/14 02:54 PM—UPDATED 08/19/14 05:29 PM

By Irin Carmon

Police in Ferguson, Mo., on Monday began telling protesters – who have been gathered for days demanding justice for the death of an unarmed teenager at the hands of police – that they were no longer allowed to stand in place for more than five seconds, but had to keep moving.

“When inquiries were made to law enforcement officers regarding which law prohibits gathering or standing for more than five seconds on public sidewalks,” the ACLU of Missouri wrote in its emergency federal court filing to block the apparent policy, “the officers indicated that they did not know and that it did not matter. The officers further indicated that they were following the orders of their supervisors, whom they refused to name.” The ACLU argued the policy was a prior restraint on speech and asked for a temporary restraining order.

“The attorney general came to court via phone and announced that there was an alternative speech zone that was being set up,” Tony Rothert, the legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, told msnbc. That satisfied the judge, who agreed it was a close call but denied the ACLU’s request to block the policy.

So where and what was that free speech zone? “It’s supposed to be at the intersection of Ferguson and Florissant,” Rothert said. “There is a field there, but it is padlocked and no one can get in.”

Read more: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/aclu-first-amendment-suspended-ferguson

[mysuzuki2]

1. You know where the Constitution established a Free Speech Zone?

The entire United States of America!

[Ed Suspicious]

17. Yes. +1

[billhicks76]

20. Exactly

And that supercedes Patriot Act amendments which allow searches and suppression of rights 200miles in from any federal border which covers most of the population on all three coasts. The press should hire bodyguards. Maybe Blackwater? Xe or whatever.

[billhicks76]

19. Everybody WAKE UP!!!

They aren't lying. Their supervisors gave them orders and the reason they won't name them is because they've been told they cannot. Those supervisors are, as in every other domestic disturbance, riot or protest, HOMELAND SECURITY! How are people so mentally absent or naive not to have already surmised this.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

26. ummmmmmmmmm

how do you know this?

[billhicks76]

30. Have You Ever Been To A Protest post 2006?

They are at every single one over 100 people. They have a presence already in every county in the country. They even are pulling people over for interstate marijuana running in all the Midwestern states. People don't reealize how many agents have been hired and how terrorism doesn't really exist in any major way here. They are there to continue the drug war and put down political dissent...that's it. A reporter said that they have a source in Homeland Security that said they have been coordinating the police response from the beginning. Why is that surprising though? They run all the fusion centers and surveillance systems fighting ordinary crime now in every big city. Their vehicles are usually spotted at medium and small sized protests.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. 'Alternative speech zone'...

I really don't recall reading about that sort of crap in the first amendment. OR having to 'assemble' while in motion.

[Lindsay]

3. The law is

whatever the police say it is, unless and until we can restore sanity in this country.

[jwirr]

4. That is exactly how I have been feeling every time I have watched live feed during this crisis. Live

feed that was caged in a useless location and could hardly tell us what was happening.

I am 73 years old and have been watching news since I was 10 years old. My father was an avid watcher and he passed it on to us kids. Without news and now cable we would be so out of touch that we would not know what was happening in the next town let alone the world. They are our eyes and our ears at these events.

I do realize that many of the news sources are like faux news and no true most of the time. Yet I do have choices.

[tblue37]

22. Reporters and photographers went into the most dangerous

places during WWII and the Vietnam War, but in Missouri, in our own country, reporters are told they are not allowed to be anywhere near the “action." That means that they cannot shine the light on abuses if they are not allowed near what is going on.

But of course that is a feature, not a bug.

[jwirr]

25. Agreed. And the only danger they found was from the police.

[tblue37]

28. Yep--one of the German reporters who was arrested Monday night made that point, too. nt

[HooptieWagon]

5. The Judge must be accustomed to having police lie to him. nt

[mindwalker_i]

6. The constitution wasn't written for black people

[ybbor]

7. Was the judge a GWB appointment?

We all know how much he loved the "free speech zones".

[Egnever]

11. This!!!

Not happy to hear it under Obama and I hope he does something about it.

[father founding]

8. Toilet Paper

Once again the conservatives are wiping their asses with the Constitution.

[WinkyDink]

9. “The attorney general...announced there was an alternative speech zone that was being set up." WTH?

HERE'S YER ZONE, JUDGE!

[Jack Rabbit]

18. I got a bigger free speech zone . . .

[center]

[/center][font size="1"]The Blue Marble taken by the crew of Apollo 17 from Wikipedia
(Public Domain) [/font]

[WinkyDink]

29. I would agree, but alas, not every nation's laws would.

[ashling]

10. Why should they be allowed to protest and intimidate wherever they want (sarcasm)

I bet there is not an anti-abortion protester in the bunch

[Egnever]

12. Wow this part is awesome.

The most recent Supreme Court case affirming the primacy of protesting on public sidewalks – even if a state claims that public safety is at stake – was McCullen v. Coakley. In June, the Court struck down a Massachusetts law creating a buffer zone around abortion clinics. “Consistent with the traditionally open character of public streets and sidewalks, we have held that the government’s ability to restrict speech in such locations is ‘very limited,’” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts.

That that horrendous ruling might work against the Missouri government in this is somehow very satisfying.

[E-Z-B]

16. Yup, I was thinking the same thing.

[Stonepounder]

13. While what is happening in Ferguson is making me physically ill,

we need to be a little careful. Free-speech applies only in public places. It does not apply to private property. There has been an ongoing debate as to what constitutes 'public'. Some of us are old enough to remember the whole Hare Krishnas in Airports go-round.

However, IFIRC, 'free speech zones' only began appearing under GWB. However, the cops in Ferguson seem to be making up the rules as they go along, and the judge seems to be much more in their court rather than on the side of the Constitution.

For life is like Cricket
We play by the rules
But the secret that few people know
That keeps men of class
Well apart from the fools
Is to make up the rules as you go

-The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd
-Things to Remember

[Android3.14]

14. This is horrifying

Twice in one week, I am appalled.

[The Second Stone]

21. The entire constitution has been suspended for quite some time

this is just the public slightly starting to notice.

[1Greensix]

23. begin using second amendment

Blacks all over MO need to begin using their second amendment rights in Ferguson. MO law, passed in 2013 says "In the absence of any reasonable and articular suspicion of criminal activity, no person carrying a concealed or unconcealed handgun shall be disarmed or physically
restrained by a law enforcement officer unless under arrest;
So, peaceful demonstrators have the right to carry concealed and unconcealed handguns, by MO law. There wouldn't have been on cop out there if it were armed whites demonstrating the second amendment rights so black need to see if the law is unbiased or not.

[The Second Stone]

27. That would not go well

as I think you well know.

[sinkingfeeling]

24. Hope the ACLU appeals the ruling and keeps its eye on things there.

[Marrah_G]

31. WTF is an "alternative speech zone"?

[Hissyspit]

32. It starts with a 'B.'

And also an 'S.'