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While the First Amendment rights of all citizens are protected, the court had agreed to hear the appeal of “two Secret Service agents who had been accused of violating the First Amendment rights of anti-Bush protesters” way back in 2004. While yea and naysayers in both camps exist, the court considers that the secret service should not be partial to those who say yea to former president Bush.
The situation back in ’04 was that George W. Bush was in Oregon at a restaurant. That being the case, 200 to 300 fans and protesters showed up on the scene. According to the WSJ, the demonstrators claimed that the Secret Service directed police officers to use riot gear and pepper spray as well as rubber bullets to push the naysayers away. They went on to say that unfairly, fans of the President were allowed to be one block closer to him, as he and his family had dinner in an outdoor patio that was enclosed by a 6 foot tall fence.
The protesters sued in federal court back in 2006, claiming “viewpoint discrimination.” They were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. Ultimately the ninth Cirtcuit not only “rejected the government’s bid to dismiss the complaint” but also “refused to shield the Secret Service agents from liability.” The court commented that there was “simply no apparent explanation for why the Secret Service agents permitted only the pro-Bush demonstrators, and not the anti-Bush protestors, to remain along the President’s after-dinner motorcade route.”
Image Credit: ffrf.org
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