1-man picket line shouldn't need permit, ACLU says
By The Associated Press
10.30.02
NEW IBERIA, La. — One person should not need a parade permit to picket a business, the American Civil Liberties Union says.
The ACLU of Louisiana has gone to court for Ernest L. McGee, who says New Iberia police threatened to arrest him for failing to get the $5 permit unless he stopped picketing a Kmart in September 2001.
The ACLU wants the court to overturn the parade permit parts of New Iberia's city code as unconstitutional.
Police Chief Robert Feller said he could not comment because he had not been served with the lawsuit. Other city officials did not return a call for comment. Notice of the lawsuit arrived on Oct. 28 in U.S. District Court in Shreveport, a clerk said.
McGee was protesting Kmart's decision to temporarily stop selling guns and ammunition after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Kmart announced hours after the attacks that it was stopping the weapon sales temporarily as a safety measure. It was a very short halt.
"On the 12th or 13th, we instructed stores to go ahead and put them back out," said Michele Jasukaitis, a spokeswoman for the chain.
McGee's sign said "that Kmart refused to sell guns to the elderly, women and to you," said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU.
What McGee said and what was on his sign aren't important — what matters is that it was legal for McGee to picket, as long as he was doing so peacefully and not blocking entries and exits, Cook said.
According to an ACLU news release, four New Iberia police officers told him that he did not have a valid parade permit or a permit for public assembly, and that he would be arrested if he did not stop picketing.
The lawsuit states that the parade ordinances are unconstitutional to start with, don't explain what activities need parade or assembly permits, and should not be applied to a single person.
"Furthermore, the $5 fee for a parade permit operates as a prohibited tax on the exercise of free speech," Cook wrote. The fact that it's a small amount doesn't matter, he said.
"Anyone can walk down the sidewalk with a sign," Cook said. "They don't need a permit from the authorities to do that. Even more than one person can do that, as long as they don't block the sidewalk, or don't block ingress or egress from public or private property."
The only reason for a parade permit is the need for a police escort or to cordon off streets, he said.