I'm Not a Lawyer, But Even I Know This West Chicago Ordinance Is Unconstitutional

Last Tuesday (6 July 2010) Tuesday the city of West Chicago enacted a new ordinance that required would-be demonstrators to apply for a permit at least 90 days prior to a demonstration. The ordinance also allows denial of a permit based on the city administrator's determination whether he believes a demonstration will negatively affect public "comfort, morals, and welfare."

I'll get into the 90 days in advance in a bit, but for now I want to talk about the giving the city administrator the right to basicly censor any speech he may not want or like people to hear under the guise of how it will affect public “comfort, morals, and welfare.” So much for free speech in any way shape or form if that is allowed to stand.

Let's face it, the truth is often uncomfortable. & it is especially so when you are dealing with telling & showing people what abortion is really like. But even more generally, if you follow the rule to its logical conclusion whose comfort would really be protected. I suspect that it would be the comfort of the city officials & administration as well. After all, they wouldn't be too comfortable having someone organizing a protest of some action they did, like raise taxes.

Then there is the 90 days bit. As the Thomas More Society pointed out, that has effectively banned any public demonstration until October. What it really does is prevents any swift public reaction to something that may come up, like a visit by Obama, where people may want to demonstrate against his policies. & how about something that comes up with the City Council? Again, lets say that the City Council is considering giving abuilding permit to Planned Parenthood to put up 1 of its murder parlors. The vote comes up at the next meeting, but no one could organize a protest ast that meeting is less than 90 days away.

& it is clear to me that this ordinance was aimed at Pro-Life Action League in an attempt to stop them since it was known by the city well before last Tuesday that they were coming to town. I can speak from experience that PLAL does all it can to ensure that the Police are aware of what is going on. & that any demonstration they put on is a exercise of the participants 1st Amendment rights to free speech, free expression of religion & peaceful assembly. So why else would you enact a new ordinance that would change the groundrules in mid course if not to stop the "Face the Truth" Tour?

The fact that West Chicago backed off so quickly when they were threatened with being taken to court shows that they knew what they did was wrong. They knew the court would never let the law stand. Another interesting fact I discovered when I checked out the posted agenda for the 6 July 2010 meeting was what was omitted from the description of the ordinance. After checking some previous agendas my suspicions were confirmed. All the ordinances on every agenda listed the specific part of the city code affected, chapter(s), article(s), section(s). They also gave a short descrition of what the those parts of the code dealt with, except for one, Ordinance No. 10-O-0056, the one affecting the Pro-Life Action League's demonstration. The only reason I can come up with is that the Council knew that if the word got out in advance as to what this ordinance actually was doing they wouldn't be able to pass it. The agenda for the Infrastructure Committee meeting on the 1st of July just raises suspicions even more. & the fact that this ordinance doesn't seem to fit in with what that committee normally deals with raises more red flags. (Although in a way, it could.) Unfortunately, the meeting minutes are not yet available to get more details.

Another interesting coincidence has to do with the location of the demonstration. The site is on the border of the 5th & 7th Wards. 1 of the 2 representatives of the 7th Ward, Nicholas Dzierzanowski, serves as the Infrastructure Committee Chairman. & 5th Ward rep, John C. Smith, Jr. is also on the committee. & as I pointed out, the Infrastructure Committee was the source of the ordinance. Coincidence? Maybe. I would be interested to know if any member of the committee has a close connection with Planned Parenthood. Given that PLAL has had some run-ins with PP & that PP would love to do what it could to shut them up that is the most likely reason someone on the committee would have brought this ordinance up.

Whatever the connection may or may not be, the whole way this ordinance came about just does not pass the smell test in any way, shape or form.

The West Chicago City Council will have to do something about the ordinance. & it will have the Thomas More Society watching over its shoulder. In the short run, the attempt to silence the truth has failed. But the battle isn't over.

For the whole story see 2010 “Face the Truth” Tour Hits the Ground Running, Thomas More Society Prepares Lawsuit and West Chicago Backs Down to Allow Pro-Life Demonstration Tomorrow & West Chicago Backs Down, Allows Pro-Life Demonstration at 11th Hour