Thread: ACLU sues city over alleged excessive fees for immigration m

http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-775674.html

ACLU sues city over alleged excessive fees for immigration march


By TIM WHITMIRE : Associated Press Writer
Oct 4, 2006 : 5:57 pm ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The city of Asheville charged exorbitant permit fees for a political rally by supporters of immigration reform, according to a lawsuit the legal arm of the American Civil Liberties Union's North Carolina chapter said it filed Wednesday.

The May 1st We Are One America Committee was charged $1,500, much of it for services the group did not request or need for its peaceful rally, supporters said Wednesday.

Asheville city attorney Bob Oast did not return a telephone call seeking comment about the lawsuit. The clerk's office in Asheville federal court was closed before the filing could be confirmed and the lawsuit hadn't been posted Wednesday on the court's electronic system.

The suit seeks reimbursement of the permitting fee and a ruling that the provision of Asheville's city code governing such permits is unconstitutional.

"It (a permit fee) can vary, but $1,500 is just outrageous," ACLU-NC legal program coordinator Katherine Lewis Parker said in a telephone interview from her Raleigh office. "It's very clear from the correspondence that these city officials were making this up as they went along."

The Asheville event was part of a coordinated series of events May 1 across North Carolina and the nation aimed at demonstrating the importance of immigrants to the United States economy and society.

In a statement, rally organizer Danielle Fernandez said her group had to scramble at the last moment to pay the permit fees imposed by the city.

"(We) want to make sure that the city doesn't do this again to any other groups or individuals seeking to exercise their free speech rights in Asheville," she said.

"People's ability to exercise their constitutional rights to freedom of speech in America should not be contingent upon their ability to pay exorbitant, unnecessary fees," Parker said.

According to the group and the ACLU, the We Are One America Committee was charged: $1,000 for police protection it did not request; $100 to rent Pack Square, where a post-march rally was held; $150 for the city's projected loss of parking meter fees; and $250 for barricades.

Though there were no reports of disorder at the event, Parker said police anticipated major problems.

"There was a lot of concern" about having enough officers at the event, she said. "(One) of the concerns was that there was going to be a likelihood of counterprotesters."

The ACLU's suit, filed by cooperating attorney Fred Goldsmith of Marion, says that Asheville's code governing permitting for such marches is similar to an ordinance struck down in 1992 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Forsyth County, Ga., vs. Nationalist Movement.

In that case, which grew out of a planned protest against the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, the high court found that the Constitution requires "narrowly drawn, reasonable and definite standards" for setting permit fees and that administrators should not be given unbridled discretion in such decisions.

Parker said that ruling also found administrators may not take into account the content of the message being delivered at a march or rally in setting fees, because that would violate the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment.

When you do that, Parker said, "What you're saying is, 'You have to pay more because your speech is unpopular.'"

It's time to sue the ACLU for trashing America's laws. They should also change their name to "Mexican Civil Liberties Union" They certainly don't represent American's.

It's the Anti-American Communist Leftists Union. I'm telling you, from The Ten Commandments to religious crosses to even just looking at an illegal immigrant , they are going to sue you. It's a profiteering racket for them. They should be sued under Rico statute.

I sure would like to know if the ACLU is involved with those that are pushing the SPP! I bet they are up to their neck in it!

How many marchers at the Asheville rally? How many counter demonstrators? How many extra policemen were called in? For how long?

Justifying $1,500 is a snap, IMHO. Make the ACLU pay the city's court costs when they lose!

If $1500 is an exorbitant fee, I'd love to see the sorts of lawsuits that could be filed against NYC. Whenever we held events there, that amount would scarcely cover the cost of one Teamster unloading a panel truck.

I thought the same thing re $1,500. They are sueing over that amt? What were there, 20 people? And I thought anytime there is a protest/rally whatever, you needed to file with the city and the city always provides police officers to make sure order is maintained. Sometimes I think the ACLU just goes around looking for cases.

They are power mad and get some kinda superior feeling about wielding it and intimidating people. They are the true Supremist organization trying to make people and governments cower beneath them. They defend the sleaze of the Nation. When have you ever heard of them standing up for anything truly American?? Think they will sue Columbia University for allowing the Minutemen's speech to be suppressed????? They are hypocrites to the nth degree.

Originally Posted by gofer

They are power mad and get some kinda superior feeling about wielding it and intimidating people. They are the true Supremist organization trying to make people and governments cower beneath them. They defend the sleaze of the Nation. When have you ever heard of them standing up for anything truly American?? Think they will sue Columbia University for allowing the Minutemen's speech to be suppressed????? They are hypocrites to the nth degree.

It's all in WHO is funding them. Not a pretty list.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Originally Posted by gofer

They are power mad and get some kinda superior feeling about wielding it and intimidating people. They are the true Supremist organization trying to make people and governments cower beneath them. They defend the sleaze of the Nation. When have you ever heard of them standing up for anything truly American?? Think they will sue Columbia University for allowing the Minutemen's speech to be suppressed????? They are hypocrites to the nth degree.

It's all in WHO is funding them. Not a pretty list.

Who funds them?