Federal Judge Rules Against RNC Protesters (GOP Convention News!)

A federal judge in Minneapolis issued a decision today, upholding the terms of a demonstration permit issued by the St. Paul police department for an antiwar march at the Republican National Convention.

U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen rejected virtually every argument made by attorneys for the protest group who had sought a march route that would have come close to encircling the Xcel Energy Center and would have continued later into the day so delegates would see the demonstrators when they arrived for an evening session on Sept. 1.

Citing past court decisions, Ericksen adopted the view of the St. Paul police department and the city of St. Paul that it was granting unprecedented access to the protesters for a convention of a major political party.

Essentially, the judge said they could protest, but not completely encircle the facility, and had to leave a clear opening outside the front door (if I understood the caveats correctly). They have a 4 hour window to protest, but cannot obstruct the entrances prior to the evening session.

Given the security-sensitive nature of this event, these are prudent precautions, IMO.

I am reminded of the ‘84 Republican Convention in Dallas. The city had gone out of its way and set up free accommodations (tents, showers, water fountains) for the uninvited protestors along the banks of the Trinity River (which, for those who aren’t familiar with Dallas, is little more than runny mud most of the time).

Apparently, the protestors were mostly liberals from the northeast because they arrived in Dallas (in August) unaware of the fact that Texas is HOT in the summertime. After the first night in the tent city, they filed a motion in (local iconic judge) Barefoot Sanders’ court to force the city to provide them with air conditioned quarters at Fair Park.

Judge Sanders gave them about 15 minutes to plead their case then threw the whole thing out and told them to get out of his courtroom.

The rocket scientists from the northeast decided that the judge was not being fair to them, so they decided they would show the city of Dallas a thing or two. They were going to stop traffic by laying down in the street. They didn’t seem to grasp the physics involved in solar heating and heat transfer and, with an outside air temperature at around 106F, laid down on the blacktop pavement (which probably had a surface temperature of around 130F to 150F).

In a rare move, the Dallas PD took no action, knowing that this problem was going to take care of itself very quickly. Within about 2 minutes, most of the brain surgeons realized that they were getting the crap burned out of them by the hot pavement and jumped up and returned to their tent city.

They packed up and went home that night.

They weren’t missed.

It was one of the most peaceful conventions the Republicans have ever had (well, in which everyone actually stayed awake!).

This convention is pretty anticlimactic after the Obama appearance. Pretty good move on the DFL’s part.

So far, barring the RNC getting rid of McCain, I think that the protestors are going to be the only exciting part of the convention.

P.S. I think both McCain and Obama suck, and I’m not into Republican party loyalty.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.