Almost all of the work of the ACLU of MAINE Legal Program is focused directly on the needs and concerns of the people of Maine. But, sometimes a case that originates outside our borders can have the potential to seriously threaten our civil rights and civil liberties here. We are lucky at the ACLU to have fully staffed legal programs in nearly every state, and when we get a chance to band together on a matter that concerns a number of us, all the better.
That is the background for a recently-decided case from Puerto Rico that we were involved in as amicus curiae, involving the rights of religious speaker to go door to door in order to share their religious message. The case, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society v. Antonio Segardia de Jesus, et al., involved security barriers that were erected in various neighborhoods in Puerto Rico. The plaintiffs are Jehovah's Witnesses, who are obligated by their religion to go door-to-door to share their religious message, but the security barriers made travel on the public streets and sidewalks of Puerto Rico impossible. They challenged the restrictions, and not only did the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico say that the restrictions were okay, they also awarded attorney fees to the defendant municipalities, under the theory that the challenge to the restrictions was frivolous.
The plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which is when we got involved. The First Circuit includes Puerto Rico, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and the decision in this case would be the law for us here just as much as in Puerto Rico. We feel very strongly that everyone has a freedom of speech right to the public streets and sidewalks. Further, it could be a disaster for our work if courts started awarding attorney fees to defendants in civil rights cases any time that it does not like the plaintiff's argument (not only did we not think the plaintiffs' arguments were frivolous--we thought they were correct).
The ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief coordinated an amicus curiae brief, along with all the ACLU affiliates in the First Circuit, which we filed in support of the appellants. The Court held that some of the barriers were indeed too burdensome on freedom of speech, and that the defendants were not entitled to attorney fees because plaintiffs' arguments were not frivolous. A good day for the first amendment here in Maine, thanks to a case that started in warmer sunnier climes.