« New Movie On John Kerry's Life | Main | Bush Receives Another Endorsement »
October 16, 2004
Appeals Court Rules Against Mass Searches at Protest
In a decision that may have broad implications with respect to the Patriot Act, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday unanimously ruled that protesters may not be forced to pass through metal detectors before they assemble for a rally next month at the School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
In a suit brought by an organization known as School of the Americas Watch, the judges unanimously ruled that mass searches as a pre-condition of assembly constituted a form of prior restraint on speech and assembly, and as such was a violation of both the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment.
The City's search policy also violates the First Amendment in five ways. First, it is a burden on free speech and association imposed through the exercise of a government official's unbridled discretion; restrictions on First Amendment rights may not be left to an executive agent's uncabined judgment. Second, the searches were a form of prior restraint on speech and assembly; to participate in the protest, individuals had to receive the prior permission of officers manning the checkpoints. Third, the search policy was implemented based on the content of the protestors' speech. Fourth, even assuming the searches were implemented exclusively for content-neutral reasons, they were impermissible because they did not constitute reasonable time, place, and manner limitations, which are the only permissible content-neutral burdens that may be placed upon free speech and association. Finally, even putting aside First Amendment analysis, the search policy constitutes an "unconstitutional condition;" protestors were required to surrender their Fourth Amendment rights (as discussed in Part II) in order to exercise their First Amendment rights.
While we fully support the need for heightened security, we have also pointed out before the unnecessary dangers of dismantling the Constitution in order to provide that security. And while the system often works slowly, we hail this decision as further proof that the system does work.
Posted by bcoffee at October 16, 2004 06:47 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.icantthink.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/56
