The Feds have settled with a couple who, in 2004, were handcuffed and ejected from public property for the audacity of showing up in anti-Bush t-shirts at a Bush speech. They sued the Secret Service (which had directed the arrests), and have settled the suit for $80K.
Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
“This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. “As a result of the Ranks’ courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent.”
[…] The front of the Ranks’ homemade T-shirts bore the international symbol for “no” superimposed over the word “Bush.” The back of Nicole Rank’s T-shirt said “Love America, Hate Bush.” On the back of Jeffery Rank’s T-shirt was the message “Regime Change Starts at Home.”
The White House made it clear that they were settling only as a favor to the poor couple.
White House spokesman Blair Jones said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
“The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct,” Jones said.
An earlier ACLU article on the case is here.
Does this worry anyone else? The fact that the White House sees nothing wrong in what they did and are open about it. I mean really WTF!!!! This administration needs to go.
Webs, did you really expect them to say anything else? (For that matter, it’s pretty much settlement boilerplate in any law suit.)
The sad fact is, though, that even if they collectively realized it was the most horrible thing they’d ever done, the track record of this Administration (what’s left of it) is that they’d never admit it.