BY JEFF JONES
MINNEAPOLIS - Socialist election campaigners won a significant victory for free speech here when U.S. district court judge John Tunheim put his signature on the final order and permanent injunction enjoining the city of Minneapolis from enforcing three unconstitutional ordinances. The ordinances involve the process for obtaining permits to sell literature and set up tables on city streets and for posting fliers in public areas. Tunheim ruled that the permit process doesn't meet First Amendment requirements for guaranteeing freedom of speech. The Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor in the November 1997 election, Jennifer Benton, was also awarded $3,200 from the city to pay all attorney's fees.

Both Benton and the city of Minneapolis agreed to the order signed by Tunheim on March 3. Following a temporary injunction issued by Tunheim against the city on October 28, city officials said they were going to try to rewrite and adopt amendments to the three ordinances. But after nearly two months they said they had been unsuccessful and agreed to not pursue defense of the existing ordinances in court. Tunheim written opinion, which explained the basis for the October temporary injunction essentially outlined the arguments for a permanent injunction. In the face of this the city decided to not continue what could be costly court fight.

The case began last August when a Minneapolis police officer gave Doug Jenness, then Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of St. Paul, citations for selling the Militant newspaper and for posting a flier on a lamppost while staffing a campaign table in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. The police officer, moonlighting for the Uptown Association, a merchants' organization, compelled the socialist campaigners to shut down their table. Each citation carried a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $700 fine. Following the temporary injunction the city dropped both charges against Jenness. In return for Jenness not filing suit against the city for damages resulting from the citations, the city awarded the $403.25 for Jenness' attorney's fees.

Benton filed a civil suit in federal court on September 18 requesting an injunction and a ruling that the ordinances are unconstitutional. During the hearing in federal court, the city attorney said he wasn't as interested in sales of newspapers on city streets as he was about obstructing traffic with sidewalk tables. Benton's attorney, Randy Tigue, pointed out that setting up sidewalk tables was governed by a similar permit process as the other two ordinances and urged the judge to rule on it too.

The court fight went hand in hand with a political effort to make the case widely known and win support from as many people as possible. The Committee to Defend Free Speech sent petitions with several hundred names to Mayor Sharon Sayles- Belton, and won considerable publicity for the case in the local media. The committee also organized a public meeting in December to help publicize the case and raise funds.

Benton pointed to the breadth of this victory for fighters against police brutality, protesters against Washington's war threats, and trade unionists fighting for their rights. "The injunction applies to myself, the plaintiff," she said, "and all others seeking to engage in activities protected by the First Amendment."

Rebecca Finch, treasurer of the Committee to Defend Free Speech, in a wind-up letter to supporters, reported that the funds remaining after all expenses are paid will be donated to the Seattle Committee to Defend Free Speech. This committee is organizing the defense of Socialist Workers campaigners who were denied an exemption from disclosing the names of financial contributors from the Seattle Election and Ethics Commission. The amount to be donated is about $700.

Jeff Jones is a member of the International Association of Machinists.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home