Judge: No changes to protest route/time

Posted at 9:31 AM on July 16, 2008 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

AP has the story:

ST. PAUL (AP) - A federal judge in Minnesota has refused to grant a group's request to change the time and route for its protest during the upcoming Republican National Convention. Judge Joan Ericksen says government officials have security reasons to justify the restrictions on the permit for the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

The group plans to march on the first day of the convention September 1st.

They wanted to get closer to the Xcel Energy Center and be able to conduct the protest later in the day, when the convention will be in session.

A city permit keeps marchers at least 84 feet away from the arena's doors and orders them to clear the street by midafternoon.

Ericksen says the restrictions are content-neutral and meet a narrowly tailored restriction that serves significant government interest. She adds that coalition members have "no constitutional right to physical access to the delegates."

Comments (1)

As someone once said to me, "Your freedom of speach ends when your fist hits my face". With that in mind physical access to the delegates can be inforced to protect the delegates rights, and freedom of assembly does not mean they can assemble just anywhere (ie they can not setup in my back yard without my premission).

Posted by brian hanf | July 16, 2008 10:03 AM

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