Sponsored Links

[nebraska29]

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint against a White House coordinator of events, whose advice led to the creation of the presidential advance manual. In it, the author created a system whereby protestors would hopefully not be seen at events, or along motorcade routes. It led to two citizens being kept out of a public event solely due to a bumpersticker on their car. It also led to a couple being forced out of an event for wearing an anti-Bush t-shirt. No one who had a bumper sticker supporting the president was asked to leave the public event. The problem here concerned speech, and the Bushies didn't want the "wrong" views to be heard evidently. There has been no indication that any of these individuals heckled the president, made threats, or otherwise became disruptive.

The Ranks had tickets to attend the July 4, 2004 event, but drew attention when they removed their outer garments to display t-shirts bearing the international "no" symbol (a circle with a diagonal line across it) superimposed over the word "Bush." Although other people in the audience were allowed to wear pro-Bush paraphernalia, White House event staff demanded that the Ranks remove or cover their t-shirts. When the Ranks refused, the White House staffers instructed local police to arrest the couple, causing them to be removed from the Capitol grounds in handcuffs, jailed and charged with trespassing. Ms. Rank was also temporarily suspended from her work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. City officials later apologized for their part in the arrest when they realized they'd been used as political operatives by the White House.

Similarly, Weise and Young had tickets to attend the March 21, 2005 Denver town hall on Social Security, but they were singled out after a staffer was informed that Weise had a bumper sticker on her car that read, "No More Blood for Oil." Weise was stopped upon entering the event and warned that she had been "ID'd," but was allowed to enter. However, shortly after reaching their seats, Weise and Young were forcibly removed from the event by a staffer who later admitted that he was acting under orders from White House officials.

ACLU link

It's one thing if an event is marred with a heckler. I've been active in a number of campaigns and have seen people do that. Typically, the heckler is removed and life goes on. How that would be intolerable for George W. Bush to handle hasn't been explained, but evidently, it is something his handlers don't want him to confront. I agree that if the event is private, that you can stop people at the door. However, that is not the case in either of these instances the ACLU cites. These were public events and the people in question did nothing to warrant exclusion or being forced out of their respective events. I find this case to be a terrible abuse of the first amendment for political purposes by this administration.



Questions for debate:

1.)Were the first amendment rights of Jeff Rank, Nicole Rank, Leslie Weise, and Alex Young violated? Why or why not?

2.)Given the fact that protest areas were designed to keep protesters out of view and hearing of their intended target, how do "free speech zones" not constitute a violation of the first amendment?

3.)To what extent should opposing viewpoints not be allowed at a public event, when the protesters are peaceful and not disruptive?