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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Ind. Courts - Still more on: Fort Wayne Airport defends handbill policies in face of lawsuit
Updating this ILB entry from March 12, 2011, Rebecca S. Green of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports in a March 25th story:
A few weeks ago, the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority stood by its rules governing who can say what and where at Fort Wayne International Airport.The airport authority altered those rules this week in response to issues raised in a federal lawsuit.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in a case brought against the airport by Paul Anthony Stanton and his ACLU attorney, the airport board altered the rules a bit, changing some of the places where people can hand out literature or other information at the airport.
In January, Stanton sued the airport authority in protest of rules enacted by the airport in mid-November, arguing they violated his First Amendment rights to free speech.
The rules limit “expressive activity” to a small area outside the terminal and require a permit be obtained before any protest or leafleting occurs, according to court documents. * * *
In his lawsuit, Stanton sought a ruling from a federal judge to declare the rulings invalid on constitutional grounds. He also sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the enforcement of the rules while the lawsuit moves through the courts.
But on Tuesday, attorneys for the airport filed notice with the court that they had changed the rules, expanding the areas where people can engage in “expressive activity” and reducing the amount of notice needed to engage in such activity.
“The whole purpose is to allow people to have free speech operations without interfering with the legitimate operations of the airport,” said Mark Baeverstad, attorney for the airport. “I hope that the American Civil Liberties Union will recognize that there’s not much of an argument at this point and they’ll dismiss the lawsuit.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 27, 2011 04:48 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts