Freedom of speech wins one

First, this from the AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The federal government has agreed to pay $80,000 to a Texas couple arrested and charged with trespassing in 2004 after they refused to cover up homemade T-shirts with anti-Bush slogans.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, announced the settlement on Thursday.

The Ranks were handcuffed, removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol and held in police custody for between one and two hours.

“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.”

An order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

The recent revelation of the existence of a presidential advance manual made it clear that the government tries to exclude dissenters from the president’s presidential appearances, the ACLU said in a prepared statement. “As a last resort,” the manual says, “security should remove the demonstrators from the event.”

The front of the Ranks’ 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.”

Jeffery Rank, who was a Republican who disagreed with Bush, said he found it ironic that the government manual encourages event organizers to use young Republicans as “rally squads to oppose messages like ours at presidential appearances.” Rank has since changed his party affiliation, the ACLU notes in its release.

A call to the White House was not immediately return Thursday.

If memory serves correctly, I covered this event as a reporter. I saw the Ranks being escorted out for the crime of wearing a T-shirt that expressed dissent. I saw no problem in the crowd as a result of their wearing their shirts.

And this was an official government visit, not a campaign stop, so the White House really couldn't say it paid for the use of the Capitol.

It was all so petty. The Ranks exercised their right of free speech, even if others found it a bit offensive. There was no reason for them to have been taken into custody.