The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the right to free speech, even going so far as to declare that corporations are persons in granting them this First Amendment right. From animal cruelty videos to the Pentagon Papers to Citizens' United, the Supreme Court has generally taken a dim view of the government trying to over-regulate or suppress freedom of speech or of the press.
But the first amendment is not just about free speech.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Writer Naomi Wolf was arrested last night for peaceably assembling with a bunch of Occupy Wall Street protesters, as she writes today in the Guardian. I excerpt her story below the squiggly.
Last night I was arrested in my home town, outside an event to which I had been invited, for standing lawfully on the sidewalk in an evening gown...
..a phalanx of perhaps 40 white-shirted senior offices descended out of seemingly nowhere and, with a megaphone (which was supposedly illegal for citizens to use), one said: "You are unlawfully creating a disruption. You are ordered to disperse." I approached him peacefully, slowly, gently and respectfully and said: "I am confused. I was told that the permit in question allows us to walk if we don't block pedestrian access and as you see we are complying with the permit."
...The police are now telling my supporters that the permit in question gave the event managers "control of the sidewalks". I have asked to see the permit but still haven't been provided with it -- if such a category now exists, I have never heard of it; that, too, is a serious blow to an open civil society. What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the "other" -- the "terrorist", the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you -- while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law.
It's an awesome account, and I encourage you to read the whole thing. (Quoting it in its entirety would probably be a violation of fair use.)
But it's just a single incident among many. in this essay Id like to ansk why it seems that the right to peaceably assemble has not been so vigorously defended -- either by lawsuits pursued by such entities as the ACLU -- or by the Federal courts.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe this right has been defended by civil liberties groups, and these groups have lost. Is there some case where the Supreme Court has significantly restricted the right to peaceably assemble? Or have no such cases been brought before the Federal Appeals Courts and the Supreme Court?
Why do the police seemingly have the right to 'kettle' groups off, or corral them into 'Free Speech' zones. Why, time and time again, do protestors get attacked by police and dragged off to jail, such as in Minnesota a few years ago and now in New York? Why have there been no Federal court injunctions against police acting in this arbitrary and capricious manner, denying people the right to (continue to) peaceably assemble? Why do the police get to do it over and over again, even when the courts continue to dismiss the bullshit charges that are leveled against the protesters?
What happened to
Congress shall pass no law... prohibiting ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble...
Inquiring minds -- who are not constitutional scholars on this issue -- want to know.
Does anyone have any answers?