TRI In The News
Local Organization Wins Case for Supreme Court Protestor
From CBS 19
A federal judge has ruled in favor of a protestor arrested two years ago while holding a demonstration on the US Supreme Court plaza.
The judge declared a statute banning the displace of a flag or banner on the grounds of the court unconstitutional.
The protestor, Harold Hodge Jr., was arrested in 2011 while wearing a sign that criticized police treatment of certain minorities.
The Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute challenged the statute on Hodge's behalf. They said he was within his First Amendment rights.
"There have actually been ministers who have been arrested for praying in front of the Supreme Court in that plaza, anti-death penalty people like that," said John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute. "So what I think this will do is allow peaceful protests in front of the Supreme Court, which is the institution that decides all these cases."
The US Attorney's Office is now reviewing the decision.
