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Federal judge: Cleveland’s GOP convention rules are unconstitutional

Federal judge: Cleveland’s GOP convention rules are unconstitutional

CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s recently enacted restrictions on parades, protests and speeches in a 3.3-square-mile “Event Zone” during the Republican National Convention next month violate the First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Later in the day, the Ohio Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP said that federal, county and city law enforcement officials had visited more than a dozen local activists at their homes to “intimidate [them] and others in an effort to discourage people from engaging in lawful First Amendment activities” during the convention. The officers asked about past home addresses, political and social affiliations, and RNC-related activities, the groups said in a press release.

In U.S. District Court, Judge James S. Gwin concluded a 90-minute hearing by granting the ACLU of Ohio a temporary restraining order barring implementation of the restrictions. The ACLU filed a lawsuit last week.

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Judge Gwin urged the city and the plaintiffs in the ACLU suit — Organize Ohio, Citizens for Trump, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless — to try to work out plans for parades and rallies. Later, he issued an order referring the case to fellow U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster for mediation.

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Judge Gwin said government must narrowly tailor statutes that affect the First Amendment and must demonstrate that alternate measures would fail to achieve the government’s interests, not just that the chosen method was easier. He said the city had not shown a “significant government interest” in establishing such a large Event Zone around Quicken Loans Arena, known as “The Q,” where the convention will be held July 18-21.

Nor had the city done so in allowing just one parade route — across the nearly mile-long Lorain Carnegie Bridge and onto Ontario Avenue, Downtown. At its closest, that route comes only within 1,000 feet of the rear of The Q and only during a limited number of hours when the convention’s delegates were not likely to be in session. Also, only 18 parade permits will be issued during the entire convention.

He also found unconstitutional the allowance of only one site where demonstrators could stand on a platform above the crowd and speak using electronic amplification. The regulations barred them from doing so elsewhere. Two small parks were designated for protests but only through art, such as signs.

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Stewart Hastings, the city’s attorney, argued the city was not abridging free speech or assembly and that security, safety and emergency egress to hospitals made such restrictions in the Event Zone necessary, but Judge Gwin cut him off.

“How is this different than yesterday?” he said, referring to the estimated 1 million to 1.3 million people who crowded Downtown on Wednesday for a victory parade by the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. The parade started at The Q, the home of the Cavs, and traveled through streets in what will become the Event Zone.

“What’s different?” Judge Gwin repeated. “Weren’t roads closed in that whole area? Was the city not functional?”

Mr. Hastings said there was a big difference because the RNC had planned the convention for Cleveland for years, making it a known, high-profile potential target for terrorists. “I don’t believe ISIS predicted the Cavs would be in a parade,” he said.

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He said a “Hard Zone” around The Q would be set up by the Secret Service just before the convention, an ultra-secure area that will require credentials to enter. He noted people will be able to speak and assemble freely throughout the Event Zone all the way up to the Hard Zone. Furthermore, he said, people can march on the sidewalks in the Event Zone as long as they don’t impede other pedestrians, and they can use bullhorns to have their messages heard. He said speakers can register to use an amplified electronic microphone on a raised platform in Public Square in the Event Zone.

“How does limiting speech to Public Square help with terrorist issues?” Judge Gwin asked.

Again, Mr. Hastings denied speech was being limited and noted that the city was offering 18 permits for parades of 50 minutes in length for the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the first day of the convention and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the other three days.

“How many convention delegates even get up before 1 p.m.?” Judge Gwin said. “Why not allow them on Carnegie Avenue the same as the Cavs?”

“There’s a difference,” Mr. Hastings said. “Those were happy people and very, very different than the kind of people we expect to be coming to Cleveland. People are coming to do criminal mischief.”

“You are inviting more problems” by limiting parades to one route, said ACLU attorney Freda J. Levenson. “I’ve heard a fair number of people say, ‘Regulations be damned.’ [Wednesday] was a free-for-all and the city was OK with it. We’re asking for permits. This would avoid disorderly parades.”

The First Amendment also was on the minds of Jocelyn Rosnick, co-coordinator of the Ohio National Lawyers Guild, and Cleveland NAACP president Michael L. Nelson, who said in the news release they were troubled by activists being visited by agents from Homeland Security, the Secret Service and the FBI, and members of the Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department.

“We are concerned these visits will chill the free speech activities of individuals wishing to lawfully protest and that individuals who are not planning to be involved in the RNC are being harassed due to their associations,” Ms. Rosnick said.

Michael A. Fuoco; mfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1968.

First Published: June 23, 2016, 4:45 p.m.
Updated: June 24, 2016, 3:35 a.m.

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