[ACLU-NM] NEWS RELEASE: ACLU Sues Law Enforcement for Shielding
President Bush From Protestors
Whitney Potter
wpotter at ACLU-NM.org
Tue Jan 15 09:23:40 MST 2008
ACLU Sues Law Enforcement for Shielding
President Bush From Protestors
Group Calls Action Unconstitutional and Discriminatory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday January 15, 2008
CONTACT: Whitney Potter, ACLU of New Mexico, (505) 266-5915 x1003 or
507-9898; wpotter at aclu-nm.org
Rachel Myers, national ACLU, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media at aclu.org
ALBUQUERQUE - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New
Mexico filed a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of several New
Mexico residents and advocacy organizations who were made to stand more
than 150 yards away from the site of a fundraiser being attended by the
president as they peacefully protested the views of the administration,
while a group of people expressing support for President Bush were
allowed to stand only a few feet from the fundraiser site.
"People who disagree with the president have as much a right to be heard
as those who wish to praise him," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney
with the ACLU. "The unequal treatment of the ACLU's clients violates
their constitutional right to free speech."
On August 27, 2007, President Bush was in New Mexico to attend a
fundraiser for Senator Pete Domenici at the home of Los Ranchos de
Albuquerque Mayor Larry Abraham. In anticipation of the presidential
motorcade, several individuals, including the ACLU's clients, gathered
along the street leading to the mayor's house holding signs expressing
their disapproval of the Iraq War.
According to the ACLU's lawsuit, law enforcement officials forced the
peaceful protestors to stand 150 yards away from the motorcade route, on
the opposite end of the street from where the president would arrive,
where they were blocked from the president's view by a wall of parked
police cars and officers on horseback. A group of people holding a
banner reading "God Bless George Bush! We Pray for You!" was allowed to
stand only a few feet from the fundraiser site, in plain view of the
motorcade.
"Law enforcement officers gave Bush supporters front row seats and made
those who disagreed with the president stand behind a wall of cars and
horses," said Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director.
"Officials went to great lengths to shield the president from viewing
the people who disagreed with him, which just isn't how a free society
should operate."
The New Mexico lawsuit comes in the midst of an ongoing challenge by the
ACLU to a White House policy that unlawfully excludes individuals
perceived to be critical of the administration from public events where
President Bush is present. The policy is laid out in the official
Presidential Advance Manual, which includes a section called "Preparing
for Demonstrators." In that section, the manual directs members of the
presidential advance team working at the site of a presidential
appearance to "work with the Secret Service and have them ask the local
police department to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be
placed, preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route."
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jeanne Pahls, Rebecca Wilson,
Alma Rosa Silva Banuelos, Carter Bundy, Merimee Moffitt, Laura Lawrence,
Stuart T. "Terry" Riley, Mary Lou "Mitzi" Kraft, Jason Call, and the
organizations Stop the War Machine and CODEPINK Women for Peace,
Albuquerque chapter.
Attorneys in the lawsuit are Catherine Crump, Chris Hansen and Josh Hsu
of the national ACLU and George Bach of the ACLU of New Mexico.
The ACLU's complaint is available online at:
www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/33653lgl20080115.html
<http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/33653lgl20080115.html>
For more information about the ACLU's work to protect free speech at
presidential events, go to:
www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/protest_president.html
<http://ww.aclu.org/freespeech/protest/protest_president.html>
###
Whitney Potter
Communications Manager
American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico
PO BOX 566, Albuquerque, NM 87103
Tel: (505) 266-5915 ext 1003 | Cell: (505) 507-9898 | Fax: (505)
266-5916 | Email: wpotter at aclu-nm.org | Web: aclu-nm.org
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