ACLJ Files Federal Suit Against City Of St. Paul, Minnesota For Unconstitutional Ordinance Targeting Pro-Life Message

ACLJ Files Federal Suit Against City Of St. Paul, Minnesota For Unconstitutional Ordinance Targeting Pro-Life Message
August 14, 2002

(St. Paul, MN) - The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, today filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of St. Paul, Minnesota on behalf of two pro-life women who were told by police to leave a public sidewalk outside an abortion clinic because they did not have a permit required by a city ordinance.

"This is an unconstitutional attempt to punish our clients who wanted to legally share a pro-life message on a public sidewalk," said Francis J. Manion, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ, which filed the suit. "The First Amendment does not allow state and local governments to require that persons obtain a license to speak in public. While, under certain circumstances, cities may require that organizations obtain a permit to conduct a parade, reserve a park, or engage in large scale demonstrations, St. Paul's ordinance goes much further than this. It requires that any number of persons who wish to meet in public at a fixed location in order to exercise their First Amendment rights must obtain permission from the city first. This, the city may not do."

The ACLJ today filed suit in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota on behalf of Bonnie Holliday and Sally Kolb against the City of St. Paul, the St. Paul Police Department and the Chief of Police.

The suit contends that on August 5, 2002 Bonnie Holliday arrived on the public sidewalk outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Ford Parkway in St. Paul to pray for and to give counsel to women entering the clinic for an abortion. She was approached by police and told that unless she left the premises, she would receive a citation for failing to obtain a permit. She left the premises and later that day, Sally Kolb arrived at the public sidewalk outside the same clinic to share her pro-life message with women entering the abortion facility. Like Holliday, she was told by police to leave the sidewalk or be cited for failing to obtain a permit under Chapter 366 of the city code. Both Holliday and Kolb had been coming to the Planned Parenthood location on Monday mornings for years.

Chapter 366A.01(a) states that "No person or organization shall use any public street, sidewalk or alley for a march, demonstration or public gathering in the city without a permit." The Ordinance defines "public gathering" as "a public assembly of persons, in a location which can be fixed or predetermined, for the purpose of conducting activities which are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution."

"There is no conceivable governmental interest which justifies such sweeping restrictions on speech," said Manion. "Just this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a permit-registration scheme in Ohio. We're confident that the court in this case will do the same."

The suit requests that the court declare the Ordinance unconstitutional and issue an injunction to prohibit the Ordinance from being used. The suit alleges that the Ordinance violates freedom of speech, the right to peaceful assembly, and the constitutional requirement of due process.

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.