January 20 lawsuit to be filed in support of free speech rights
International Action Center Press Statement
January 15, 2001
The following is an IAC statement from a press conference held today in Washington DC to announce the filing of a major lawsuit against government plans to interfere with constitutionally-protected free speech rights on January 20.
Statement from Brian Becker and Larry Holmes for the International Action Center
We are grateful to the Partnership for Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild for filing a lawsuit on behalf of those who plan to organize protests at the January 20 inauguration of George W. Bush.
There is rich symbolism in our announcement of a major lawsuit in support of the free speech rights of demonstrators who are fighting against racism and on other social justice-related issues on the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is an unfinished fight for civil rights that will be represented by our demonstration on January 20.
The First Amendment of the Constitution and the right to free speech by those who oppose government policy and specifically George W. Bush's right-wing, racist and anti-woman policies is faced with a new crisis. This is not the first effort by the government and police forces to abuse their power in an attempt to restrain the free speech rights of critics.
Our lawsuit specifically asserts that the government's current security plan for the January 20 inauguration is "constitutionally invalid."
While the National Parks Service was forced to grant us permits to rally at Freedom Plaza (14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW), at the Justice Department (Pennsylvania Ave. between 9th and 10th St. NW), and at McPherson Square (15th and I St. NW), we believe that the Secret Service, Metropolitan police and other government agencies are using the issue of national security as a pretext to inhibit, violate and subvert our constitutionally-protected guarantees to free speech.
The lawsuit focuses on several issues, including these two:
(1) Access to the inaugural parade route: The government has set up security check points through which all people entering the parade route will be filtered. We believe that the system is established to discriminate against demonstrators who will be denied the access granted to George W. Bush's financial donors and right-wing ideological supporters. The police agencies have told the media that the check points are being established because of the demonstrators. This clearly demonstrates that the check points are not "neutral" but are "content" based. The check points are not really for security, but to restrain the rights of demonstrators to gain access to the parade route.
(2) "Unfettered discretion" by police agencies: The police agencies have been calculatingly vague about their rules and conduct regarding security, check points, what will be permitted and what will not. Boundaries and parameters keep shifting, as do the explanations given to the public and to demonstrators by police authorities. This policy of deliberate vagueness is an undisguised attempt to give police agencies "unfettered discretion" on January 20 in regard to their behavior towards demonstrators. On its face, this "unfettered discretion" is a violation of the demonstrators right to organize and prepare a peaceful and legal assembly for their demonstration.
The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court at 10:30 am on Tuesday, January 16.
We are in an emergency situation. With only days before the scheduled inaugural event and our demonstration, it is necessary for the courts to take urgent action against the "constitutionally invalid" procedures of the police agencies.
Thousands of people are coming to Washington DC on January 20 to protest racist disenfranchisement of voters, especially from the African American and Haitian community, in Florida and throughout the U.S. They will demonstrate against the death penalty. George W. Bush having overseen more executions as Governor of Texas than any other governor in history has become the face of the death penalty, which is an inherently racist tool of repression. Many will be there to support a new trail for famed broadcast journalist and Pennsylvania death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Just last week, the first African American woman to be executed in half a century was legally lynched in Oklahoma. While George W. Bush did not preside over this particular execution, it clearly demonstrates that "compassionate conservatism" is merely a facade and the death machine rolls on.
Women and their allies are demonstrating n support of Roe v Wade and the right to control their bodies. Workers are coming to protest against the anti-labor policies of Bush and his big business supporters. The lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement will be bringing a large contingent to January 20. January 20, 2001, will be remembered not as the first day of a new period of conservative, ultra-right reaction, but as an historical next step by the budding movement for social justice in the United States.
International Action Center
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