Maine Civil Liberties Union Takes City of Augusta to Court Oral Arguments Held on Right to March and Demonstrate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
PORTLAND – In oral arguments today at the U.S. District Court in Bangor, the MCLU challenged the City of Augusta’s policy of selectively imposing fees on marchers and protesters.
Citing evidence that Augusta only imposed fees on certain groups, as well evidence of the extreme cost of fees, the MCLU asked the court to send Augusta back to the drawing board to come up with a law that doesn’t penalize protestors for speaking out.
“There should be no cost associated with free speech,” said Zachary Heiden, Staff Attorney at the MCLU and co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “All people in Maine should have the right to express their views in the state’s capital, regardless of their political affiliations or their ability to pay.”
In the past, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the right to free speech in the First Amendment to mean that cities cannot pick and chose among the groups that it charges a fee based on those groups’ ideas. Further, courts across the country have said that cities cannot charge such a high fee that poor people are denied the right to speak.
The MCLU originally filed this case, Sullivan et al. v. City of Augusta, in March 2004, requesting a temporary restraining order against Augusta’s permit policy. At that time, the Court imposed a partial temporary restraining order, ending Augusta’s policy of requiring marchers to get insurance before holding an event. Today’s argument is the latest stage in a dispute that could proceed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston or even to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment was specifically designed to protect the rights of those who disagree with government policy to join together and speak out in protest,” said MCLU Executive Director Shenna Bellows. “The government should not be allowed to use the costs of traffic control as an excuse to suppress the views of those who oppose the war in Iraq.”
The MCLU represents Timothy Sullivan, one of the organizers of the March 21, 2004 “March For Truth” in Augusta, which promoted peace, end to war, universal health care, and benefits for military families. Mr. Sullivan was charged almost $2000 for the permit to hold the march. The MCLU also represents Larry Dansinger, who planned to hold a march for worker’s rights last fall, but he was dissuaded by the enormous cost of the permit. The MCLU legal team is comprised of Mr. Heiden and David Webbert, a civil rights attorney and partner in the Augusta firm Johnson & Webbert, LLP, who is acting as MCLU Cooperating Counsel in this matter. Mr. Webbert delivered today’s oral argument.
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Contact:
Shenna Bellows, MCLU, (207) 774-5444, sbellows@mclu.org
Zachary Heiden, MCLU, 207-774-5444; heiden@mclu.org