Follow-up to Cleveland Ban on Free Speech

A federal judge on Thursday scrapped the city of Cleveland's plans for a heightened-security zone that would have encompassed most of downtown during the Republican National Convention, saying that the restrictions are burdensome to people who want to express their free-speech rights.

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- The judge said the times at which people can hold parades, which is only for a few hours each day of the convention and not during the hours in which the delegates are expected to be downtown, are problematic.

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- He said the size of the event zone, is "unduly large."

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- He said the parade route is unconstitutionally insufficient.

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The city indicated it would appeal the judge's order, but the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which brought the lawsuit, said the organization's attorneys are now negotiating at the judge's behest to come up with a compromise because of the short timeframe.

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The city maintained its previous assertion that the event zone it created was to ensure security for people coming downtown. Hastings said that the convention is an "ideal target for international and domestic terrorists" and that despite that, the restrictions it had sought to impose were among the least stringent of any recent political convention.

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The judge seemed skeptical on how allowing a march downtown or allowing demonstrators to use several city parks poses a security concern.

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Gwin also questioned the inability for those who want to hold parades on other streets, such as Carnegie Avenue, and how delegates would be able to see the protesters on the bridge.

  Cleveland.com

Yeah, I think that was the point.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.