ACLU of Wisconsin Challenges Rally Permit Denial

January 1, 1999

On December 30, 1998,  the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin (ACLU/WI) filed a lawsuit challenging Governor Thompson's denial of a permit to a Ku Klux Klan group wishing to hold a demonstration at the State Capitol on January 16, 1999.   The ACLU/WI, in court papers, says that the Governor is "In defiance of well-settled law, ...."

"The ACLU believes that the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press would be meaningless if the government could pick and choose the persons to whom these rights apply.  Just as civil rights protesters engaging in free speech deserved the protection of the law when threatened by hostile crowds in the 1960s, so do other unpopular groups," said Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, on December 30.

"The State Capitol is a traditional public forum.  The plaintiff's rally is for the purpose of free speech which, however offensive to many, clearly touches on political matters of public concern.  In such circumstances the courts have repeatedly and recently decided that the government may not deny a permit merely because it is afraid of what counter demonstrators might do," Ahmuty continued.

Governor Thompson has said that "It is clear that the Klan's intention is not to engage in protected free speech in advocacy of political ideas but to incite imminent lawless action."

The plaintiffs' brief argues, "While the mere prediction of incitement or violence can not, as a matter of law, justify prior restraint, the state also cannot establish that these plaintiffs will, in fact, engage in incitement, or that there will be a violent reaction.  An undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance, as reflected in the Governor's press statements is never enough to prohibit speech or to fail to protect the speaker's rights."

"The ACLU of Wisconsin believes that those who find the Ku Klux Klan offensive or hateful should allow the Klan to engage in a peaceful rally.  If the rally's opponents wish,  they should exercise their own free speech rights to educate the public, especially young people, regarding their values," Ahmuty concluded.

The plaintiffs in the complaint are Klan members Michael McQueeney and Kabes Zimmerman, both of Mercer, Wisconsin, on behalf of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.  The defendants are Governor Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the Department of Administration Mark Bugher, and Administrator of the State's Division of Buildings and Police Services John Marx.  The case is in the federal court for the Western District, Wisconsin in Madison.  It has been assigned to federal District Judge  Barbara Crabb.  The plaintiffs are asking the court to grant an immediate injunction to prevent the defendants from interfering with the plaintiffs peaceful exercise of their speech and assembly rights.