A Colorado Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of a state statute against disrupting a lawful event bodes well for a similar Denver city ordinance passed last week to discourage protesters from disrupting the Columbus Day Parade.
Although the high court upheld the state statute, it nonetheless threw out the conviction of Matthew Dempsey for disrupting a 2002 open-air rally on the Boulder Mall by supporters of Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Tom Strickland. Dempsey, using a bullhorn, and other demonstrators taunted Strickland, calling him “lawyer lobbyist” and “Toxic Tom.” There wasn’t sufficient evidence that the actions of Dempsey, a supporter of Sen. Wayne Allard, “significantly” disrupted the rally, the court wrote.
The Supreme Court, however, upheld Dempsey’s conviction on obstructing an officer of the law by reaching for a cellphone to call a lawyer and walking away from a Boulder officer who was writing him a citation.
Denver’s ordinance against disruption and a companion measure against blocking a roadway are taken almost verbatim from similar state statutes, according to City Attorney Cole Finegan. After three county judges ruled the city’s loitering ordinance unconstitutional, Denver had to dismiss loitering charges against more than 200 protesters who blocked last year’s Columbus Day Parade for more than an hour.
In the Dempsey case, the Supreme Court made it clear that protesters have a right to express opposing views, even with a bullhorn – they just can’t “significantly” disrupt a lawful event.
