Advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union said today they won’t appeal a federal judge’s ruling that upheld the security plans of police and the city of Denver during the Democratic National Convention.
But a leader of one of the groups still threatened to violate the ruling by marching to the front door of the Pepsi Center regardless of the police response.
The groups had sued the government, challenging the security restrictions such as the distance of the public demonstration zone and the location of parade routes.
They have also decided not to proceed with a Tuesday trial that was set to challenge security restrictions at Invesco Field at Mile High, where Barack Obama is expected to give his acceptance speech on the last night of the convention.
“I think what has happened in recent years is judges are increasingly willing to defer to the decisions of law enforcement officials and their view of the balance of security and First Amendment rights,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU of Colorado. “And courts of appeals are going to defer to the district court judge’s ruling.”
“What is regrettable from an ACLU perspective is that there is a trend to strike the balance giving more weight to speculative and remote security concerns at the expense of First Amendment rights of peaceful members of the public,” he said.
At an afternoon news conference, Glenn Spagnuolo of one of the groups, Recreate 68, said he planned to violate the protest restrictions and get as close as possible to the delegates.
“We are going to file our appeal in the street,” Spagnuolo said. “Do not blame us for the confrontational situation that may come. This will become ground zero for the fight of our civil liberties.”
The city has agreed to provide a stage and a public address system within the demonstration zones outside the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
