Anti-War Coalition Headed to Court to Fight City
posted 9:50 am Tue August 21, 2007 - Washington
An anti-war coalition is taking the D.C. government to court over laws that regulate posting signs around the city.
The ANSWER Coalition filed a major Free Speech lawsuit in the United States District Court Tuesday for the District of Columbia challenging anti-postering regulations that have been used to fine the organization.The legal action comes a week after officials ordered the coalition to remove posters it had pasted on electrical boxes or face nearly $10,000 in fines.
City officials say the posters advertising a September 15th anti-war march used glue that made them hard to remove.
Now the coalition is asking a federal judge to stop the city from regulating signs posted on D.C. property until the city creates a different system for determining what's allowed and what's not.
The coalition accuses the city of giving preferential treatment to posters having to do with political candidates, commercial businesses and crime prevention, while grass-roots campaigns get stuck with massive fines.
Officials at the D.C. attorney general's office say they're reviewing the complaint.
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Information from: The Washington Post
City officials say the posters advertising a September 15th anti-war march used glue that made them hard to remove.
Now the coalition is asking a federal judge to stop the city from regulating signs posted on D.C. property until the city creates a different system for determining what's allowed and what's not. The coalition accuses the city of giving preferential treatment to posters having to do with political candidates, commercial businesses and crime prevention, while grass-roots campaigns get stuck with massive fines.
Officials at the D.C. attorney general's office say they're reviewing the complaint.
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Information from: The Washington Post
Latest Comment on Anti-War Coalition Headed to Court to Fight City
CJ_Merlin
8:08 am on 08/21/07
The 1st Amendment, as a result of many years of judges who legislate from the bench, will now legalize littering and the ACLU will back this up. Just wait and see. America, as the founders intended her to exist, is no longer here. Many of us still have the will, however the fight to keep America as it was intended, as you and I came to her, is being changed by the lesser and more populous greedy and lesser informed.
Glue or no glue, these posters (and all others) are regulated. Why is DC deciding to act now? It's because of the proliferation and the manor in which they are glued.
Personally I feel all those little political banners posted in public spaces should be outlawed as well.
Free speech is not about the protection of littering, it's the protection of voicing your opinion. VOICING is the key word here.
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