On The Front Lines
City of Pittsburgh Violates Pro-Life Protester's Civil Rights During Christmas Parade; Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Suit
Lawsuit Accuses City, Mayor and Police Department of Unlawful ArrestPITTSBURGH, Pa.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Keith Tucci, a pro-life protester who was unlawfully arrested for holding a picket sign during Pittsburgh's annual Christmas parade. The suit charges that the two arresting officers, acting on instructions by Pittsburgh Chief of Police Robert W. McNeilly, Jr., and Mayor Tom Murphy, violated Tucci's rights of free speech, free exercise, assembly, association, privacy and petition.
In keeping with their practice of having peacefully picketed for many years without incident in front of the Women's Health Center in downtown Pittsburgh, on Nov. 25, 2000, Tucci and several other pro-life protesters staged a nonviolent protest on the public sidewalk in front of clinic. The protesters picketed using a variety of pro-life posters. Some contained statements lobbying for an end to abortion; others depicted babies killed by abortion. That same day, Pittsburgh's annual Christmas parade was scheduled to pass in front of the health center and the picketers. At approximately 9:00 a.m. that morning, police officer Brian Sellers approached Tucci and demanded that he and the other protesters remove their signs objecting to the practice of abortion. Tucci refused and was subsequently arrested and charged with failure to remove his sign. Institute attorneys have charged that Tucci was arrested under a "vague and overly broad statute" that gives the police wide latitude to make subjective determinations regarding what they deem to be inappropriate or unlawful behavior.
"When you give unbridled discretion to government officials to determine what is appropriate speech, you open the door for a wide array of interpretation, often persuaded by personal opinion," stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "You cannot chill free speech because of fear of disruption that hasn't occurred and has no history of occurring."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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