Protester’s rights violated, judge rules

INDIANAPOLIS – Police violated a protester’s rights when they arrested him for leaving a designated protest area during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney to Evansville, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The restrictions police placed on protesters’ movements went beyond what was needed for security even in the post-9/11 climate, U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney wrote.

McKinney noted that protesters were restricted “to an area 500 feet away from the only entrance used by attendees, and on the opposite end of the building from where Vice President Cheney would enter the facility and from where the majority of people attending the event would park.”

Such conditions, he wrote, “burdened speech substantially more than was necessary to further the defendants’ goals of safety.”

The Indiana Civil Liberties Union sued the city in January 2003 on behalf of environmental activist John Blair. The suit alleged that police had violated Blair’s constitutional rights by arresting him for leaving the designated protest area during Cheney’s visit to the Ohio River city on Feb. 6, 2002.

Police arrested Blair about 100 feet from the entrance to The Centre, where Cheney was appearing at a Republican fund-raiser. Authorities initially charged Blair with disorderly conduct and later upgraded the charge to resisting law enforcement before dropping the charges two weeks later.