MILWAUKEE (CN) — Protesters represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of Milwaukee in federal court late Wednesday over what they say are the city’s plans to unconstitutionally restrict their right to protest at the Republican National Convention this summer.
The Coalition to March on the RNC claims that both the city’s actions and inaction in response to the group’s plans to assemble and march around the convention’s epicenter in downtown Milwaukee have violated its First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, as well as their due process rights under the 14th Amendment.
The group’s main sticking points concern a “special event ordinance” the city passed specifically for the RNC. The ordinance in part creates a large “security footprint” around convention venues and requires demonstrators in that footprint to apply for a special permit. If the permit is granted, protesters can march only along a designated parade route during a seven-hour window each day.
The ordinance gives Milwaukee the power to designate and disclose the official parade route only days or weeks before the convention, which the group says city officials still have not done. It also allows the city to limit items that may be carried in a protest march or in the security footprint, the area of which also has not been timely disclosed.
The protesters say the city is purposefully dragging its feet to prevent meaningful judicial review of the ordinance and parade route.
“The Coalition brings this suit to vindicate its rights to engage in First Amendment expression activity in the traditional public forum of the streets in a manner where it can be seen and heard by attendees of the convention,” the group says.
Aside from the city itself, defendants in the lawsuit include Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and Commissioner of Public Works Jerrel Kruschke.
City communications representative Jeff Fleming said in an email on Thursday that the city is “fully prepared to answer the court filings” and defended city officials’ approach to accommodating those planning to protest the national GOP’s nominating convention, which is slated for July 15-18.
“We have consistently operated in good faith with all the different groups and individuals who are concerned about the demonstration plans. In fact, we have had open discussions and meetings with the litigants in this matter, including discussions just hours before the lawsuit was filed,” Fleming said.
Fleming said the city is intent on facilitating people to freely express their opinions while also focusing on keeping people in and around the convention safe.
“We are working to maximize both priorities,” he said.
According to the complaint, the Coalition to March on the RNC filed its first of three parade permit applications on April 12, 2023, for a demonstration to take place on the first day of the convention. The group provided a proposed route through several blocks of downtown Milwaukee, including in the vicinity of Fiserv Forum, home to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, where much of the RNC’s activities will occur.
The city responded by telling the protesters their permit application was filed too early. The group filed subsequent permit applications on Sept. 21, 2023, and Jan. 18, 2024, neither of which got a response from the city.
Then came the city’s special event ordinance on March 19 of this year, which detailed the 90-square-block security footprint, an area in which vehicular traffic and what items people within the footprint may have in their possession will be regulated. Within the security footprint there will also be a “credentialed zone” secured by tall steel fencing where only those with proper credentials can enter after passing through security checkpoints, the group says.
In addition to the credentialed zone and official parade route, the security footprint will also contain only one “official speaker’s platform” with sound equipment provided and controlled by the city.
The locations of neither the credentialed zone, nor the parade route, nor the speaker’s platform have been provided to the group or any other interested party, according to the complaint. Those who violate the RNC-related ordinance face up to a $500 fine, or imprisonment if they do not pay it.
In its complaint, the Coalition to March on the RNC — consisting of at least six dozen separate organizations representing a variety of viewpoints — notes that some organizations making up the larger group marched and protested peacefully during the Democrats’ Covid-19-marred 2020 national convention in Milwaukee. The group also arranged a march during the Republican primary debate at Fiserv Forum last August without having to jump through the hoops the city is requiring for the RNC.
While the city has been “trampling First Amendment rights” and refusing to act on protestors’ requests, the Republican National Committee has been pushing to move protestors farther away from the convention itself.
Pere Marquette Park, two blocks southeast of Fiserv Forum, has been floated but not confirmed as the location of the official speaker’s platform, but the group objects to that location because the Fiserv Forum cannot be seen from there, and likewise no one at the arena can see the park.
Without clarification and action by the city, the group and its member organizations “do not know whether the city will accede to the wishes of the political party holding the convention and keep them as far away as possible from RNC venues.”
In addition to their complaint, the protesters on Wednesday also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction tossing the city’s special ordinance and declaring it unconstitutional.
The group’s lawsuit is being presided over by Judge Brett Ludwig, an appointee of Donald Trump. On Thursday Ludwig ordered expedited briefing on the group’s injunction motion, requiring the defendants to respond within seven days. The group then has five days to file its reply, according to court records.
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