Security

Be Careful What Your Bumper Sticker Says

“No More Blood For Oil.” Bumper stickers with that phrase were synonymous with opposition to the Iraq War, during the George W. Bush administration. Simply hosting that message on one’s bumper was cause enough to remove two attendees at Bush’s 2005 speech at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Colorado. The White House had […]

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"No More Blood For Oil."

Bumper stickers with that phrase were synonymous with opposition to the Iraq War, during the George W. Bush administration.

Simply hosting that message on one's bumper was cause enough to remove two attendees at Bush's 2005 speech at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Colorado. The White House had a policy of excluding those who did not agree with the president from his public appearances. It's a policy a federal appeals court is upholding in a decision a dissenting judge decried as "simply astounding."

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 2-1 ruling means, in short, that the would-be attendees who were ousted from the event had no First Amendment constitutional right to remain at the speech. The two plaintiffs obtained the free tickets from a local Colorado representative, and sued the government for giving them the boot.

"Plaintiffs simply have not identified any First Amendment doctrine that prohibits the government from excluding them from an official speech on private property on the basis of their viewpoint," Judge Paul J. Kelly wrote for the majority Wednesday> He was joined by Judge Deanell Reece Tacha.

The court added, "Although defendants ejected them from the event on the basis of their speech outside the event, plaintiffs have identified no authority suggesting that mere attendance is transformed into speech or even expressive activity because of their speech elsewhere" (.pdf).

The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, said Monday it was considering its options. They include letting the opinion stand, requesting the Denver-based court to reconsider, or appealing to the Supreme Court.

Before the plaintiffs entered the March 2005 event, the Secret Service initially stopped them and told one of the plaintiffs, Leslie Weise, that she'd be ejected "if she tried any funny stuff," according to the ruling.

Shortly after Weise and co-plaintiff Alex Young got to their seats, they were asked to leave -– all because their vehicle in the parking lot had a bumper sticker the government did not like.

Judge William Holloway, in dissent, said they "were rudely, publicly and forcefully ejected from a public meeting to which they had properly gained admission by complying with the requirements that had been established. The speaker at the meeting was the president of the United States."

Holloway added, "It is simply astounding that any member of the executive branch could have believed that our Constitution justified this egregious violation of plaintiffs' rights."

Holloway said the decision was "severely distressing" and added that the majority was "misguided."

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