Federal judge rules state violated First Amendment rights of Occupy Nashville … – The Tennessean

[Fire Walk With Me]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130612/NEWS01/306120202/Federal-judge-rules-state-violated-First-Amendment-rights-Occupy-Nashville-protesters

The state unlawfully arrested members of the Occupy Nashville group two years ago during a protest encampment on War Memorial Plaza, which violated their First Amendment rights to free speech, according to a ruling by a federal judge on Wednesday.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, representing members of Occupy Nashville, filed a lawsuit in federal court in October 2011 challenging the arrests and the way in which new state rules governed the use of the plaza near the Capitol.

In the ruling, federal judge Aleta Trauger declared that state and local agencies did have not “carte blanche to respond in any manner they see fit.” In other words, “they cannot make law by fiat,” Trauger wrote.

The ACLU’s complaint listed Gov. Haslam; Bill Gibbons, the state’s safety commissioner; and Steven Cates, the general services commissioner, as defendants. The plaintiffs, Occupy protesters who were arrested, include Paula E. Painter, 56; Malina Chavez-Shannon, 35; and others. They sued for violations of the First and Fourteenth amendments. The latter guarantees the right to due process.

(More at the link; via Eye on Occupy.)

[Hissyspit]

1. Duh. And a reporter or two if I recall.

[Laelth]

2. Score one for the judiciary.

When you have a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, at least the judiciary is still capable of delivering some justice.

k&r for Judge Trauger, the ACLU, and Occupy Nashville.

-Laelth

[Enthusiast]

3. Support the ACLU.

Seriously.

[reusrename]

4. Monetary awards should include future costs to the public.

The award should be astronomical since the illegal suppression of the movement is costing the public plenty, by the way of allowing the banksters to continue their larceny.

[indepat]

5. Interesting that the second-named person, Bill Gibbons, is the spouse of Julia Gibbons who sits

on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. One would have thought Bill, of all people, would have been sensitive to these constitutional issues. Should this decision be appealed to the Sixth Circuit, Judge Gibbons will surely recuse herself.