(New York – May 7, 2020) – Today, the American Freedom Law
Center (AFLC), a national public interest law firm, filed a federal
civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his police
commissioner.
The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of political
activist Pamela Geller, challenges Mayor de Blasio’s recent announcement that,
pursuant to his executive orders, the First Amendment no longer applies in the
City of New York as he has made it unlawful to peaceably assemble and protest.
Geller is an author, a conservative blogger, and champion
for the First Amendment. In addition to successfully challenging
government restrictions on free speech in New York, Washington, D.C.,
Philadelphia, and Seattle, she was the organizer of the successful public
protest of the Ground Zero mosque construction in Lower Manhattan.
But for Mayor de Blasio’s suspension of the First
Amendment, Geller would organize and participate in a public protest of de
Blasio’s policies, including the draconian restrictions he has imposed upon
fundamental liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As alleged in the lawsuit:
“Public protests are an effective way to change public
policy, particularly during this current COVID-19 pandemic. For example,
shortly following a large public protest outside of the State Capitol in
Lansing, Michigan, the Michigan Governor eased many of the restrictions that
fueled the protest, realizing that her political power and future were in
jeopardy as a result of her exceedingly unpopular decisions. Other
similar protests have sprung up in major cities across the country.
Through the First Amendment Restriction, Defendant de Blasio seeks to silence
such opposition to his policies so that he can retain his political power over
the City and its residents. Consequently, the First Amendment Restriction
operates to suppress those viewpoints that oppose efforts by government
officials, which specifically includes Defendant de Blasio’s efforts, to
control people’s lives and restrict their liberty during the COVID-19
pandemic—a viewpoint shared by Plaintiff Geller.”
AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel David Yerushalmi
commented:
“Our natural political liberties, enshrined and
protected by the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, do not go on vacation
or in hiding or on lock-down during times of crisis. Government has a
role to play in protecting the public health to be sure. But when it
exercises this authority, granted by the People, it must act surgically and
most carefully when restricting our protected civil liberties—Freedom of Speech
and Assembly, first among all. It is high time Mayor de Blasio and his
police commissioner understand that they do not rule by mere fiat.”
AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel Robert Muise added:
“Too many leftwing, progressive politicians like Mayor
de Blasio see this current pandemic as an opportunity to impose draconian
restrictions on fundamental rights and liberty. Mayor de Blasio’s latest
effort to suspend the First Amendment in the City of New York is one of the
most egregious restrictions we have seen. It is unfathomable that a
government official’s thirst for power would go this far. He needs to be
stopped, and we intend to do so.”
Attachments
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