“This is a case about protecting the First Amendment rights of those who want to speak out in defense of life,” said Francis J. Manion, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which filed suit. “The police department not only overreacted – but the actions of the police department send a very disturbing message to those who want to exercise their free speech rights. We are asking the court to declare the actions of the police department illegal and unconstitutional and act to prevent this kind of heavy-handed censorship from occurring again. The issue in this case is very clear: the police department cannot operate as the ‘speech’ police and discriminate against the pro-life message.”

The ACLJ filed suit late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri against the Police Department of Kansas City on behalf of the following Missouri residents: Eugene Frye, Lowell Hale, Anthony Leake, Gary Rickman, Richard Schilling, Elizabeth Schilling, Deborah Schilling, Noah Leake, Darla Hale, Kathryn Coons, and Texas resident, Carl Lackey.

The suit focuses on the events of June 23, 2001 when Kansas City police arrested five of the plaintiffs after they refused to remove pro-life signs that police called “offensive” and “graphic.”

The plaintiffs were standing in a public area and were not interfering with or impeding traffic. After police told them to remove the signs because they had received complaints about the content of the signs, the plaintiffs refused and were then handcuffed, arrested, and charged with loitering under a city ordinance. The charges were dropped against all five of the plaintiffs in November 2001 after the ACLJ asked the court to dismiss the charges and after the prosecutor in the case agreed that the cases against the plaintiffs had no merit and should be dismissed.

Manion said the lawsuit was filed in an effort to prevent this type of discriminatory behavior by the police department from happening again.

“What concerns us about this case is that the decision to arrest the people who displayed pro-life messages was made after consultation with the legal advisor of the police department,” said Manion. “We want to make sure there is no continuing effort to censor the First Amendment rights of those who hold a pro-life point of view.”

The suit names as defendants in the case the Kansas City Police Department, the Board of Police Commissioners, and several police officers. The suit contends the police violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and contends the police engaged in false arrest and malicious prosecution.

The ACLJ is being assisted in this case by Kansas City attorney Todd Nielsen.

Since its inception in 1990, the ACLJ has defended the pro-life message in courts across America including arguing several cases defending the free speech rights of pro-life demonstrators before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is now considering a request from the ACLJ to take a case and overturn a lower court ruling that determined the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute could be used against pro-life organizations.

In addition, the ACLJ is currently representing crisis pregnancy centers in New York City that have been targeted by the New York Attorney General’s office for investigation which the ACLJ contends is designed to intimidate and stifle the pro-life message.

The American Center for Law and Justice is an international public interest law firm specializing in constitutional law. The ACLJ is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA and the web site address is www.aclj.org.