Two people who say they were ejected from a taxpayer-financed appearance by President Bush in March because of an antiwar bumper sticker filed a federal lawsuit here on Monday, charging that event staff members and federal employees broke the law.
The suit, filed in Federal District Court by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, could transform what had been a public-relations thorn for the Bush administration into a legal thicket. A.C.L.U. lawyers said they would pursue in particular the question of who gave orders to workers at the event, held March 21 at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver.
The suit could also put the United States Secret Service in the position of having to point fingers, because one of the crucial elements of the suit, A.C.L.U. lawyers said, could come from Secret Service testimony.
Martha Tierney, a Denver lawyer who is working in cooperation with the A.C.L.U., said at a news conference that the agent in charge of the Secret Service's Denver office, Lon Garner, told the plaintiffs and their lawyers that a bumper sticker saying "No More Blood for Oil" was the impetus for the ejections.
The above is from Kirk Johnson's "Two Ejected From Bush Event in Denver File Federal Suit" in this morning's New York Times. The two are part of the "Denver Three."
(See "BuzzFlash Intereviews one of the Denver Three and other things of note this morning" and "NYT: 'No Charges' for the jerk who impersonated a Secret Service agent and evicted the Denver Three" among other posts here. Also check the Democracy Now! archives.)
No, I didn't forget to post last night as some e-mails are wondering. I've been up all night working on a post that will go up after we've covered the Times. Don't forget to watch (listen or read) Democracy Now! today.
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kirk johnson
denver three
the new york times
