May 27, 2014 - In a disappointing decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that we cannot sue Secret Service agents for their decision to have peaceful protesters moved blocks away from, and out of earshot of, President George W. Bush during his campaign visit to Jacksonville, Oregon in October, 2004. Our lawsuit alleged that Secret Service Agents moved our clients further away from the President only because of their vocal criticism of the President’s policies and that action violated the protesters’ constitutional free speech rights.
The unanimous opinion by Justice Ginsburg stressed that while the Constitution does not allow the Secret Service to treat protesters more harshly because of their viewpoint, the two agents were entitled to qualified immunity and dismissed our claims against them. Much of the Court’s opinion focused on the physical location of the protesters in relation to the President and found a “plausible” security justification for the Secret Service decision to move the protesters.
"We are disappointed by today’s ruling,” said Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “No one disputes that the Secret Service has an overriding interest in protecting the President, but that does not include the right to shield the President from criticism, a critical distinction that the Court unanimously reaffirmed. In our view, the jury should have been allowed to decide whether this case was actually about security or censorship.”
ACLU of Oregon Executive Director David Fidanque noted that the Supreme Court decision came nine and a half years after the events at issue in the case.
“It has been especially frustrating that we still haven’t been able to get our clients their day in court,” Fidanque said. “The violation of the protesters’ free speech rights was just the beginning of the damage done that evening in Jacksonville. Our lawsuit also seeks to address the excessive force used against the peaceful, multi-generational gathering that night in 2004. Once the Secret Service gave the order to move the protesters, Oregon law enforcement officers gave confusing orders to the crowd and used batons and pepper-spray paintball pellets while forcing them to remain on a very narrow sidewalk that had many physical obstacles.”
Fidanque noted that the excessive force claims in the case against state and local police officials were not addressed by the Supreme Court decision and we will be discussing with our clients whether those claims still are worth pursuing now that the Secret Service agents have been dismissed from the case.
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