Lawsuit Criticizes Secret Service - Anti-Bush Protesters Are Kept at Bay

[cthrumatrix]

Lawsuit Criticizes Secret Service
Anti-Bush Protesters Are Kept at Bay, Advocacy Groups Say

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 24, 2003; Page A27


The Secret Service has helped keep Bush administration critics far from the center stage -- and television cameras -- at rallies and events where President Bush and high-ranking federal officials appeared, according to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday.

In more than a dozen public events nationwide in the past two years, the Secret Service has instructed local police to herd anti-Bush protesters into far-removed "protest zones," four advocacy groups claim in the suit. They charge that the Secret Service has kept protesters at bay before, but that the practice has increased markedly since Bush took office.

The groups, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union, say this tactic discriminates against protesters critical of the government and violates their free-speech rights. They are asking a judge in federal court in Philadelphia to stop the practice.

"Allowing a guy with a sign that says 'I Love Bush' to stand up close, while forcing the guy with a sign that says 'Bush, Go Home' to stand around the corner, is obviously unconstitutional and is becoming a pattern and practice of the Secret Service," said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU's Washington office. "The Bush administration has exceeded all past administrations in controlling camera angles and the public impression of the presidency."

snip

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54986-2003Sep23.html

[ClintonTyree]

1. It's a nice thought...............

but just how far do they think they'll get with this? The judges are in the pockets of the administration as well. The boy king won't allow dissent, he'll stick his fongers in his ears and go.."nananananananana" if he has to. We don't have the right to dissent any more, at least not in close proximity to the thief in chief. With each passing day I hate these people to a far greater degree. I know I shouldn't, it's killing me inside. But we're not allowed any form of venting except being herded into fenced areas miles from our missing link of a president.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Good news. A federal lawsuit will let more people know about this.

I'm convinced there are many people who would be opposed to this practice if they only knew about it.

[HawkerHurricane]

3. Everyone knows

that potential assassins will hide behind 'Down with Bush' signs...
So, the Secretive Service is doing the right thing. :eyes:

No disrespect to the Secret Service is intended, as they are brave men doing a diffucult job. But I feel that this whole 'get the protestors out of the way' is not their doing, but rather Bushco's campaign managers, and they're blaming the Secret Service for it.

[cap]

4. i have a sneaking suspicion that

the Secret Service will not go down for Bushco on this one. They will finger the person who told them to do this eventually.