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Monday, April 11, 2005

Ind. Decisions - City to contest 'no protest zone' ruling

The Evansville Courier& Press reports today, in a story by Maureen Hayden, that:

The city of Evansville will challenge a federal court ruling that found city police violated a protester's constitutional rights when they arrested him in a "no-protest zone" outside a 2002 appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney.

City attorney David Jones said the decision to appeal the ruling came after the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to acknowledge the Secret Service mandated the no-protest zone as part of a top-secret security plan to protect Cheney during his appearance at a private fund-raiser in Evansville for Rep. John Hostettler, R-Indiana. The Justice Department had refused to assist Jones after the lawsuit was initially filed. "It wasn't fair to put local law enforcement in the position of having to enforce the plan and then not back our Police Department," Jones said. "The Secret Service left us holding the bag." * * *

Jones said the city will now ask McKinney to issue a final judgment in the case, which will allow the city to appeal the ruling to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

In his ruling, McKinney didn't specify the amount of damages to which Blair was entitled, and set the matter for trial. On Friday, ICLU attorney Ken Falk offered a confidential settlement offer to the city, which Jones said the city will likely reject given its decision to appeal McKinney's ruling. Falk said he understood the city's decision to appeal, given the nature of the case. But he doubts the appeal will succeed. "We're confident Judge McKinney's ruling will stand," Falk said.

See this April 4th ILB entry for links to Judge McKinney's opinion, plus links to background entries.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 11, 2005 11:02 AM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions