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Want to know what is on our minds? Find blog posts written here, by the City Club staff, members, and partners. Every week you can find a new edition of #FreeSpeech in the News — a collection of related stories, commentary, and opinions on free speech in the 21st century that’s making the news. You’ll also find takes on current events, past forums, and issues surrounding Northeast Ohio. Read on for all things City Club.

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Monday, October 22, 2018

#FREESPEECH IN THE NEWS: OCTOBER 22, 2018

Bliss Davis, Content and Programming Coordinator, The City Club of Cleveland

#FREESPEECH IN THE NEWS: OCTOBER 22, 2018

As the Citadel of Free Speech here in Cleveland, we work to protect and promote the basis of our democracy by sharing related stories, commentary, and opinions on free speech in the 21st century. Here's what's making the news – and what you should know about – in the past week.


1.) New restrictions proposed for protests near the White House and National Mall

The National Park Service is considering a proposal to charge fees for protests on the National Mall, and opponents are prepared to sue.

A spokesperson for the National Park Service said the agency will then spend several months analyzing that public feedback. A final decision on the proposal is not expected until March of 2019.

“If these rules were able to go into effect it would completely eviscerate free speech rights as we know them right now in the nation’s capital,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership For Civil Justice Fund, a non-profit legal organizations that works to defend free speech.

2.) Free speech group can publish ballot information ahead of election, federal judge rules

A national free speech group suing South Dakota over its campaign finance laws can distribute educational materials about two upcoming ballot issues ahead of the November election, a federal judge ruled this week.

"We are grateful for today's decision, which will allow us to publish our ballot measure analysis," Institute for Free Speech Legal Director Allen Dickerson said in a statement. "We look forward to addressing the remaining issues in the law as the case proceeds."

The court did not declare the law unconstitutional, but granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from prosecuting IFS for posting the analysis.

3.) Former Missouri mayor sues own city over free speech, citing deleted Facebook posts

An alderman in the Jackson County community of Greenwood is suing the city and mayor for allegedly violating his free-speech rights, in part by deleting his comments on the city’s public Facebook page.

Marvin Megee, himself a former Greenwood mayor, also alleges in a federal lawsuit that Mayor Levi Weaver last April removed a homemade sign Megee had lawfully planted near a voting place during municipal elections. The sign was an enlargement of an email Weaver sent to Megee excoriating the alderman for “your incessant need to interfere” with city operations.

Weaver acknowledged removing the sign but said Megee “couldn’t get a prosecutor or judge to convict me on it.”

Megee is seeking unspecified actual and punitive damages, plus coverage of his legal fees.


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