ACLU of Texas Sues Gov. Bush, State Officials
Over Arrest of Demonstrators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 30, 1999
AUSTIN, TX -- Acting on behalf of protestors who were arrested while
exercising their free speech rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Texas today filed a lawsuit against Gov. George W. Bush and the Texas
Department of Public Safety.
The ACLU announced the lawsuit at a news conference this afternoon
outside the Governor's Mansion, where peaceful, non-disruptive
environmental protesters have been arrested at least four times since
March and threatened with arrest if they protest again.
Although prosecutors dismissed all charges against the protestors, the
ACLU said the Governor has maintained the right to arrest them, saying
in an April 1999 news conference that "the rules have changed." But
despite the ACLU's repeated requests, state officials have not provided a
copy of the "revised" rules -- or any rules at all.
"These hidden rules that essentially give unlimited police discretion to
exclude and arrest critics, when they make criticism in public, violate
Texas Constitutional rights to free speech, petition, equal protection, due
process, and freedom from unreasonable seizures," the ACLU's complaint
said.
"What is clear about this pattern of arrests is that it was designed to
intimidate and harass protestors -- not to keep the sidewalks clear for
pedestrians," said Jay Jacobson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Texas.
For years, the Governor's Mansion has been the regular site of press
conferences, rallies, informational pickets, and protests by people with
opinions on many issues. But beginning in March 1999, police officers
began to selectively warn protestors that they were subject to arrest.
On at least four different occasions, the ACLU's complaint said, citizen
groups were arrested when they did not disperse quickly enough to suit
state police officers. The groups were critical of state policies encouraging
industrial pollution and had urged passage of laws to clean Texas air. But
their lobbying and public education efforts were stymied, the ACLU said,
when they were arrested and forced to disperse.
"This case is being brought under the free speech and assembly sections
of the Texas Bill of Rights," said David Kahne, an ACLU cooperating
attorney. "We are asking the court to secure the most basic of
fundamental rights – that of political expression in a public forum."
Although charges were dismissed against all of the protesters, the ACLU
said a threat remains, because the Department of Public Safety is still
asserting the right to bring new charges against these same people, and
has said that the decision to bring the charges would depend on whether
the protestors continue to seek to express their opinions.
The case, Texas United Education Fund, Inc. v. Bush, is being brought in
state court in Travis County, Texas, on behalf of Texans United Education
Fund, Inc., Downwinders at Risk, and individuals Rick Abraham, Roger
Baker, and Jim Baldauf.
Defendants in the case are George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, and the
Texas Department of Public Safety and its Commissioners, James B.
Francis, Robert B. Holt, and M. Colleen McHugh.
Attorney David Kahne of Houston is lead counsel for the ACLU, working
with Terrill L. Flenniken of Brenham and David Kairys of Philadelphia.
Over Arrest of Demonstrators
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 30, 1999
AUSTIN, TX -- Acting on behalf of protestors who were arrested while
exercising their free speech rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Texas today filed a lawsuit against Gov. George W. Bush and the Texas
Department of Public Safety.
The ACLU announced the lawsuit at a news conference this afternoon
outside the Governor's Mansion, where peaceful, non-disruptive
environmental protesters have been arrested at least four times since
March and threatened with arrest if they protest again.
Although prosecutors dismissed all charges against the protestors, the
ACLU said the Governor has maintained the right to arrest them, saying
in an April 1999 news conference that "the rules have changed." But
despite the ACLU's repeated requests, state officials have not provided a
copy of the "revised" rules -- or any rules at all.
"These hidden rules that essentially give unlimited police discretion to
exclude and arrest critics, when they make criticism in public, violate
Texas Constitutional rights to free speech, petition, equal protection, due
process, and freedom from unreasonable seizures," the ACLU's complaint
said.
"What is clear about this pattern of arrests is that it was designed to
intimidate and harass protestors -- not to keep the sidewalks clear for
pedestrians," said Jay Jacobson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Texas.
For years, the Governor's Mansion has been the regular site of press
conferences, rallies, informational pickets, and protests by people with
opinions on many issues. But beginning in March 1999, police officers
began to selectively warn protestors that they were subject to arrest.
On at least four different occasions, the ACLU's complaint said, citizen
groups were arrested when they did not disperse quickly enough to suit
state police officers. The groups were critical of state policies encouraging
industrial pollution and had urged passage of laws to clean Texas air. But
their lobbying and public education efforts were stymied, the ACLU said,
when they were arrested and forced to disperse.
"This case is being brought under the free speech and assembly sections
of the Texas Bill of Rights," said David Kahne, an ACLU cooperating
attorney. "We are asking the court to secure the most basic of
fundamental rights – that of political expression in a public forum."
Although charges were dismissed against all of the protesters, the ACLU
said a threat remains, because the Department of Public Safety is still
asserting the right to bring new charges against these same people, and
has said that the decision to bring the charges would depend on whether
the protestors continue to seek to express their opinions.
The case, Texas United Education Fund, Inc. v. Bush, is being brought in
state court in Travis County, Texas, on behalf of Texans United Education
Fund, Inc., Downwinders at Risk, and individuals Rick Abraham, Roger
Baker, and Jim Baldauf.
Defendants in the case are George W. Bush, Governor of Texas, and the
Texas Department of Public Safety and its Commissioners, James B.
Francis, Robert B. Holt, and M. Colleen McHugh.
Attorney David Kahne of Houston is lead counsel for the ACLU, working
with Terrill L. Flenniken of Brenham and David Kairys of Philadelphia.
But who else? Are there any other choices?