White House Not Willing to Challenge 1st Amendment in Court
The West Virgina have reached a settlement in an important 1st Amendment case. Jeff and Nicole Rank were arrested at a 4th of July speech by President Bush in 2004 for wearing anti-bush t-shirts. From the Charleston Gazette article about the settlement:
The federal government has agreed to pay $80,000 to a Texas couple arrested for wearing anti-President Bush T-shirts at a 2004 event with the president in Charleston.
Jeff and Nicole Rank went to Bush’s Fourth of July speech at the state Capitol wearing homemade T-shirts with a red circle with a bar through it over the word “Bush.”
On the back, hers read “Love America, Hate Bush” and his read “Regime Change Starts At Home.”
When the couple refused to cover up their shirts, they were arrested and charged with trespassing. Those charges were later dropped by the city of Charleston, and city officials later apologized.
The American Civil Liberties Union subsequently filed a lawsuit on the Ranks’ behalf in federal court in Charleston, alleging that the Ranks’ First Amendment right to free political speech had been violated.
