(Raleigh N.C.) – The First Amendment rights of the Alamance County branch of the NAACP and eight individual plaintiffs in North Carolina were likely violated by Alamance County’s ban on allowing protestors near a confederate monument, on courthouse steps and sidewalks, a federal judge for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled today.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law represents the plaintiffs, along with the ACLU Foundation of North Carolina.
“We hope that Alamance County and the Sheriff’s Office will heed the court’s warning and immediately end their ban on allowing protest on the courthouse grounds,” said Elizabeth Haddix, managing attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Since our hearing in court last week, they are prohibiting any access to protestors during business hours during the workweek, and after 8:30 pm, and during ‘daylight hours’ on the weekend. They are permitting limited access to two sides of the sidewalk on the north side of the Courthouse, with no access to the public sidewalk beside the monument ever. That’s not close to good enough in our view.”
On July 25, the Alamance NAACP’s President Barrett Brown and three other peaceful protestors of the confederate monument in Graham were arrested while standing on the sidewalk beside the monument and refusing to leave.
“We are encouraged by the court’s ruling today,” said Tamara Kersey, one of the plaintiffs, which demonstrates that our First Amendment rights should not be suppressed.” Kersey lives in Graham, is an Alamance NAACP member and Pastor of Johnson Chapel AME, Mebane, N.C.
The court’s text order issued today states that “In the absence of immediate implementation of reasonable restrictions or other material change of circumstances, and subject to further briefing, the Court will likely grant the motion for a preliminary injunction, as a long-term prohibition on protests on courthouse grounds traditionally used as a public forum violates the First Amendment.”
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of
President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal
services to address racial discrimination. Now in its 55th year,
the Lawyers’ Committee is continuing its quest to “Move America Toward
Justice.” The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all,
particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing and
community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and hate
crimes. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommitee.org.
