Following attorney Mark Merin's Letter to the City of Sacramento, the Sacramento Press, 10/27/11 reports that Merin is planning a federal lawsuit challenging the Sacramento police's arrests of Occupy Sacramento protestors at Cesar Chavez park on First Amendment grounds:
Occupy Sacramento protesters and attorney Mark Merin are considering legal action against the city of Sacramento for violations of their First Amendment rights if arrests of protesters for ignoring the park curfew are not stopped.
“It’s not a question of whether we will pursue legal action – that decision has been made,” Merin, a Sacramento civil rights attorney, said Thursday. “It’s just a matter of when.”
There have been close to 100 arrests made since the Occupy Sacramento movement first appeared in Cesar Chavez Plaza Oct. 6, and protesters say all of those are in violation of First Amendment protections of speech and assembly.
The nature of the Occupy movement, according to Merin, is based on the principle of the use of public space to exchange information and state grievances – fundamental principles that are protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“(The movement) is happening around the world, and it’s a lot bigger than anything we’ve seen in the past,” Merin said. “It unites people who have a variety of grievances – (people who are) saying there is something wrong with the system that has gotten us to this state.”
No lawsuit has been filed yet, Merin said, but the main thrust of any potential suit is that the city ordinance that regulates park hours is unconstitutional because it gives the parks director and the chief of police discretion to grant or deny exceptions to the law.
