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Kira LernerPolitical Reporter at ThinkProgress. Contact me: [email protected] · 5 min read
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Republicans push anti-protest lawsBills targeting nonviolent protests are multiplying acrossthe country.
As people critical of President Trump’s Muslim ban flocked to airports
this weekend to show their support for immigrants and refugees, one
major airport decided to crack down on protesters.
Demonstrators holds banners and signs as they protest during a march in downtown Washington in opposition of President-elect Donald Trump, Sunday,Jan. 15, 2017. CREDIT: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
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Denver International Airport (DIA) began enforcing a rule on Sunday
that requires anyone interested in demonstrating to submit an
application seven days in advance. The regulation was challenged by
protesters, including one who recorded a video criticizing Denver
Police Commander Tony Lopez for violating his First Amendment
rights.
“Put all the signs away that have anything to do with first amendment
expression, political message,” Lopez told demonstrators. “Based on
legal advice we are getting at this time from the city attorney, what’s
being displayed is a violation of airport rules and regulations.”
“I cannot carry the Constitution without a permit?” a protester asks.
“Correct, according to airport rules and regulations,” Lopez responds.
After the video spread on social media, Heath Montgomery, a
spokesperson for DIA, told a local reporter that the regulation is
intended to protect airport patrons’ safety. “We have to ensure that
people who use this airport are safe and able to go about their
business uninterrupted and that’s going to remain our focus,” he said.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that airports are not traditional
public forums, so they can regulate people in ways that may seem to
violate their First Amendment rights.
CREDIT: Darren O’Connor
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But the movement toward limiting protesters’ free speech rights is not
confined to the terminals of DIA. In anticipation of an active protest
movement during Trump’s administration, multiple Republican-
controlled states are currently pushing for legislation that would
discourage and even criminalize nonviolent, public demonstrations.
In Minnesota, a bill passed a Republican-controlled committee last
week that would allow cities to sue protesters in order to collect
money to pay police forces required at the demonstration. Lawmakers
drafted the legislation in response to massive Black Lives Matter
protests that erupted in the state after a police officer shot and killed
Philando Castile.
Chip Gibbons, the policy and legislative council for the Bill of Rights
Defense Committee, wrote on his group’s website that he believes this
proposed law violates the First Amendment.
“It is most likely unconstitutional, and if passed will have a chilling
effect on speech as individuals will worry if they can be sued by the
government for exercising their constitutional rights,” he wrote.
While they attempt to open up the laws to sue protesters, Minnesota
Republicans are also considering a bill that would increase the
potential penalty for nonviolent demonstrations. Introduced in early
January and named the “Minnesota Public Safety Personnel
Protection Act,” the legislation would mandate a penalty of no less
than 12 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 to any protester
that obstructs police or other public employees.
And in Michigan, Republican lawmakers are attacking both unions
and protesters by pushing legislation that would increase fines against
picketers to $1,000 per person per day of a picket and $10,000 per
day for an organization or union involved in the picket. The bill
passed the state House of Representatives in December, but was set
aside by the Senate.
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Taking a different tactic, four other states are considering anti-protest
laws that would target demonstrators who protest on the streets,
according to The Intercept. The bills have all been introduced in the
last few months as responses to high-profile protests by Black Lives
Matter activists and opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline that shut
down highways.
The Intercept summarized the bills that Republican lawmakers have
proposed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Washington, and Iowa:
In North Dakota, for instance, Republicans introduced a bill last week
that would allow motorists to run over and kill any protester obstructing
a highway as long as a driver does so accidentally. In Minnesota, a bill
introduced by Republicans last week seeks to dramatically stiffen fines for
freeway protests and would allow prosecutors to seek a full year of jail
time for protesters blocking a highway. Republicans in Washington state
have proposed a plan to reclassify as a felony civil disobedience protests
that are deemed “economic terrorism” … And in Iowa a Republican
lawmaker has pledged to introduce legislation to crack down on highway
protests.
Though Democrats in state legislatures may be able to block at least
Law enforcement form a line across Interstate 94 on Saturday, July 9, 2016, in St. Paul, Minn., in response toprotesters who blocked the highway in response to the death of Philando Castile. CREDIT: AP Photo/Joe
Danborn
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some of these bills, the flood of legislative proposals stemming from
anti-protester sentiment is worrisome for civil liberties advocates. Lee
Rowland, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union,
told ThinkProgress she finds it “troubling” that states would prioritize
anti-free speech legislation at the beginning of their legislative
sessions.
“This is a marked uptick in bills that would criminalize or penalize
protected speech and protest, and every person should be alarmed at
that trend,” she said, calling the bills unconstitutional. “We should
also be alarmed by the attitude they betray, which is that when
Americans get out into the streets and make their voices heard—
recently, in record numbers—their elected representatives’ response
is not to listen to those concerns but to attempt to silence and
criminalize them.”
“That goes against the very fabric of our constitutional democracy, and
legislators introducing these bills should be ashamed,” she added. “To
try to silence those who are speaking up right now is a betrayal of
American values.”
This piece has been updated to include comment from the ACLU.
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