Five years ago, local police in Jacksonville, at the direction of the U.S. Secret Service, violently broke up an anti-Bush picket line of about 300 peaceful demonstrators. At the same time the police allowed a group of pro-Bush demonstrators to remain in the same area undisturbed. As a result, the ACLU of Oregon filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Secret Service and local police agencies, seeking damages and an injunction against such governmental abuse in the future. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the ACLU of Oregon lawsuit must be dismissed under the new standards of the Iqbal decision.  The court ruled that because the Iqbal standards were new, we should have a chance to file a Second Amended Complaint with enough detail to meet this new standard.

Click here to read the Second Amended Complaint, filed by ACLU of Oregon volunteer attorneys on October 15, 2009. Paragraphs 65-85 highlight the Secret Services long history and actual policy of discriminating against First Amendment expression.