Comments by the National Lawyers Guild to the Tampa City Council on the Unconstitutionality of An Ordinance Regulating Activities in the

City of Tampa Related to the 2012 Republican National Convention April 5, 2012 The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) strongly opposes the proposed special ordinance regulating activities related to the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) being considered by the Tampa City Council. It is unconstitutional, as an impermissibly broad prohibition on protected constitutional activity, and will especially impact conduct protected by the First Amendment. Since its founding 75 years ago, the NLG has been a staunch defender of First Amendment rights. Our members include constitutional attorneys who have litigatedand secured landmark settlements inprotest-related cases in Florida and across the country. For example, Guild attorneys brought major litigation challenging the governments deliberate assault on protesters civil rights at the 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas Conference, including a challenge to a Miami ordinance resembling the one under consideration by the City of Tampa. In a series of cases stemming from mass false arrests and excessive use of force by police, the City of Miami and Miami Dade County paid over $1.5 million in settlements (Killmon, et al. v. City of Miami, et al.; Bell v. Miami Dade County; Swanson v. City of Miami, et al. and Fletcher v. City of Miami). In recent years the NLG has litigated multiple similar crackdowns by municipal governments on free speech and assembly, including attempts to enact event-related special ordinances similar to the 2012 RNC ordinance. Although municipalities are permitted to set content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions on public assemblies and marches, the provisions in this ordinance are unreasonable, and, if enacted would have an unmistakable chilling effect on free speech and assembly. Put another way, if the City Council passes this ordinance regulating activities related to the 2012 Republican National Convention, it will find itself on the wrong side of the Constitution and, the NLG will join with other civil liberties organizations to defend the civil rights of demonstrators to protest against unconstitutional government and police practices. Public perception that Tampas government is intolerant of free speech will persist long after the 2012 RNC. In case after case, the NLG has documented problems resulting from aggressive policing, supported by ill-informed local governments, of peaceful mass assemblies. History has shown us that special ordinances passed in anticipation of National Special Security Events such as the RNC are not only often unconstitutional, but have also repeatedly failed to enhance public safety. The vast majority of any violence seen at demonstrations in the United States is not carried out or caused by demonstrators, rather it is undertaken by police who are trained to see protesters as inherently criminal, and are then deployed with so-called less-lethal weaponry and

the power of false arrest. We hope that the City of Tampa will take seriously our observation that police overreaction and the curtailment of First Amendment activities run directly counter to the safety and rights of event participants. The militarization of these events in the past has resulted in the costly and violent curtailing of free speech and has been detrimental on a number of fronts, from huge costs during hard economic times to the tarnishing of host cities reputations. It does not have to be this way. The National Lawyers Guild urges the Tampa leadership to avoid an over-militarized police presence that punishes First Amendment activities, and to instead practice sensible policing so that safety and free speech can co-exist on the days leading up to and including August 27-30, 2012. In so doing Tampa will send a positive message to the rest of the country that free speech and public safety are not mutually exclusive, but are in fact complimentary. National Lawyers Guild National Office 132 Nassau Street #922 New York, NY 10038 212-679-5100, ext. 11 www.nlg.org