State’s defiance of Court order in ongoing lawsuit comes at the expense of taxpayers

Boise, ID—The Idaho Department of Administration is expected to ask the Idaho Legislature this Friday, January 17th  to put rules restricting protestors into law, despite that a federal court has already deemed those rules unconstitutional. The rules limiting freedom of speech on the Capitol Mall are scheduled to be heard in the Senate State Affairs committee and a House subcommittee on Friday, January 17, 2014.
“The ACLU of Idaho opposes the approval of these rules as they do absolutely nothing to fix what makes them unconstitutional,” said Monica Hopkins, ACLU of Idaho Executive Director. “For the Executive Branch to ignore the court’s decision and ask the Legislature to approve unconstitutional rules so that the Executive Branch can enforce them is ridiculous.”
Last fall, Judge B. Lynn Winmill of Idaho’s federal district court struck down administrative rules that limited protests to seven continuous days in one place and granted the State discretion to waive rules for government-sponsored events or impose costs or liability on Capitol Mall protestors.  The Idaho Department of Administration has had over two months to revise or repeal those rules.  Instead, it is asking the legislature to defy the court’s order by approving the rules and extending them in force through 2015.
Richard Eppink, ACLU of Idaho Legal Director and attorney for Occupy Boise in the lawsuit, said that he and his clients were shocked to learn that the State would ignore the court’s ruling.  He said that if the legislature approves the unconstitutional rules, the plaintiffs will ask the court to put a stop to any enforcement of the unconstitutional rules, and hold the State accountable for any violations of the court’s orders.

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