Rights violated -- but no one's to blame

Rights violated -- but no one's to blame

A federal appeals court has backed a Louisiana town in an abortion protest case.

 

The Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against Columbia, Louisiana, after an incident involving pro-life demonstrators who were picketing along a highway by holding photos of aborted babies.
 
Randall Wenger (ADF)"One of the folks was actually arrested by the police and a whole bunch of other folks were threatened with arrest if they didn't put away the signs and leave," explains Randall Wenger, the attorney who defended the pro-lifers. "Police officers said [the demonstrators] were causing a disturbance with their signs and with their pictures."
 
But federal courts have ruled that people have the right to free speech, even if others disagree with it. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, after five years of litigation, that Wenger's clients' constitutional rights were violated, but the city is not to be held liable.
 
"It's a disappointing result in my mind because it seems to be more and more difficult to hold municipalities liable for their wrongdoing, even when it's fairly clear that they were the moving force behind the violation," he contends.
 
No decision has been made on whether to appeal the Fifth Circuit's ruling.

Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
Publish Date: December 30, 2009
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