UPDATE (3/6/2019): Today, the Department of General Services held a public hearing on a proposed plan to enact permanent rules for rallies at the Lee monument in Richmond. We re-sent it this letter to raise First Amendment concerns about these regulations.
The ACLU of Virginia today released a comprehensive set of recommendations for government agencies struggling with how to regulate free speech in a way that is legal and also protects public safety.
The white paper,
“Permitting Protests: Guiding Principles,” was included as part of the ACLU-VA’s
comments submitted to the Virginia Department of General Services (DGS) regarding restrictions Gov. Terry McAuliffe has imposed on demonstrations and protests at the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond.
“The government sets the rules regulating protests and demonstrations,” the white paper states. “The regulations cannot, however, favor one side over another and must be necessary to protect public safety and order.”
In a letter to DGS, ACLU-VA Executive Director Claire Guthrie Gastañaga referenced the affiliate’s legal recommendations and said the governor and Attorney General Mark Herring are wrong to suggest that the Lee Monument grounds are not a “traditional public forum” in which the public should be able to e ngage in First Amendment protected speech and assembly subject only to narrowly drawn rules.
“Lee Monument has always been used as a public park and a public gathering space which has routinely held large events including protests, rallies, Easter parades, and live music events,” the letter states. “Because it includes a public walkway and grassy area and has been used traditionally as a public park, the Lee Monument grounds are, in fact and law, a public forum and should be regulated as such.”
The letter outlines numerous constitutional issues raised by the governor’s emergency regulations, including concerns that proposals to “grandfather” some events amount to impermissible distinctions based on the content of speech, and that requiring a permit for any demonstration or protest by a group of 10 or more people is overly restrictive and unreasonable.
The ACLU-VA’s white paper recommends 10 guiding principles for permitting public gatherings that would meet constitutional standards for any public forum, including the Lee Monument and Capitol Square as well as public spaces in localities. These include: