I just logged into PACER this morning and discovered that Judge Roberto Lange has ruled Minnehaha County’s new restrictions on petition circulation outside the county Admin Building and Courthouse are unconstitutional!
I’ll have a full analysis later today, but in a nutshell, Judge Lange says that while the county may certainly require petitioners and other citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights in a civil manner that does not prevent people from accessing county offices, the county may not corral First Amendment activities to an isolated part of the parking lot or require speakers to come check in with county officials before speaking. Judge Lange says the county’s previous policy on petition gatherers can cover instances of incivility and that the new policy is unnecessary and unconstitutional.
This ruling is the second bug court win for ballot question committee Dakotans for Health, which last year successfully defeated onerous state restrictions on petition circulators.
I love when tyranny is smacked down.
The tyrants always get back up, Mr. Pay, stronger than before.
Tyrants are persistent, freedom fighters must be equally persistent.
What we need is a tyrant pesticide wirh longlasting residual protection against tyranny and environmentally friendly for libs.
Sorry grudznichts, Nick knows!
In order to win against the tyrants, freedom fighters must remain persistent in their endeavors and maintain their resilience even in the face of adversity. This might involve continuous advocacy efforts, nonviolent protests, or other forms of resistance. By remaining persistent, freedom fighters stand a greater chance of ultimately prevailing against the tyrants and securing their rights and freedoms.
I still love it when tyranny is smacked down, even if it takes repeated smack downs. Eventually tyranny loses. It changes or it dies. It’s a question of how much damage tyrants do until they change or are slayed.
Illinois became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw book bans, after Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday signed legislation that would cut off state funding for any Illinois library that tries to ban books, CBS Chicago reports.
A Washington, D.C. resident just won a lawsuit to block her next-door neighbor from smoking medical marijuana in his home, writes Cuneyt Dil of Axios Washington D.C.
One part of Fascism is the persecution of your
political enemies.
Nice try, Leah. You didn’t even have the character to just be truthful with what you tried to do.
Go lay by your dish.
Politics is the continual argument over who gets to do what to whom, for how long, and against what degree of dissent. –Lewis Lapham
Would a book of songs written by Stephen Foster be in that library?
Edwin, a songbook by Woody Guthrie would seem more likely.
Good question, Edwin. Certainly some of Foster’s songs are horribly racist. Other songs extoll the better aspects of American life. He did appropriate black musical styles to enrich himself, but some of it was bad caricature. He’s no hero, I come down on the side of keeping the book. That said, I would tear down any statues to the guy.
Dakotans for Health is certainly persistent. They got the court to knock down Jon Hansen’s attempt to revive the registry and badging requirement for paid circulators; now they’ve beaten what I suspect was Jon Hansen’s attempt via his funder and anti-abortion ally Leah Anderson’s abuse of power to hamstring the Roe v. Wade petition. Dakotans for Health deserves much credit for stepping into these hard fights for rights when no one else appears interested.
I made a special point to go down to the courthouse and sign whatever petitions they had to show my support and celebrate our 1st amendment rights. I hope everyone does the same. This is the only way for the people to get something on the ballot Those supporting the restrictions want the politicians in Pierre to decide what’s best for us. Let the people decide in an election and support our democracy by supporting these petitioners. Thanks Cory for your good work.
OT Watergare era hero, Daniel Ellsberg, passed away at 92. May we never forget the lessons he taught us.
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/16/1162158609/daniel-ellsberg-obituary-pentagon-papers
RIP, man.