TRI In The News
Wrong to Exercise Right at Supreme Court Building
From One News Now
Original article available here
According to a conservative legal group, free speech is not considered free speech in front of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC.
John Whitehead, founder of The Rutherford Institute, reports that his group has filed suit in federal court on behalf of Harold Hodge, who stood on a plaza in front of the Supreme Court building with a sign voicing his concerns about the government's treatment of blacks and Hispanics.
"The police walked up, and it was a snowy day, believe it or not. There was absolutely no one else out there; it was just empty," Whitehead reports. "The police told him to move. He didn't; he thought he had a First Amendment right. So he was arrested for violating a federal law which says you cannot gather in front of the Supreme Court building with a sign or a banner or in any way demonstrate."
Charges were dropped on the condition that Hodge agree to stay away from the location for six months.
"People hold all kinds of media events out there in front of the Supreme Court building -- interviews and those kinds of things -- and they allow that," the Institute founder notes. "But they won't allow a fellow to protest and raise a legitimate issue."
Rutherford attorneys assert that the statute is vague, overbroad, and invalid, as applied to the kind of peaceful protest in which Hodge engaged.
