Solidarity Singers Get A Back Up Chorus

Not being able to bear the thought that people might be exercising their constitutional rights, Scott Walker set out to bring in his own version of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Thus he installed Dave Erwin as commandant of the Capitol Police.

So far, Erwin's claim to fame is threatening innocent citizens and advising politicians to hit their constituents.

Commandant Erwin has set his eyes on the Solidarity Singers, a group of citizens who come to the Capitol every day at lunchtime and sing songs of solidarity. Obviously, these fiends must be stopped! After all, how are the Republicans supposed to go about systematically destroying the state if there are people running around exercising their First Amendment rights?!

Now, if the singers wanted to become the Solidarity Shooters and bring in handguns, that's perfectly fine. But singing? No way!

To deter the Solidarity Singers, and everyone else, of their rights, Erwin wants to strictly enforce the draconian permit requirements.

One could just imagine Walker, Mike Huebsch and the Fitzgerald boys rubbing their hands and snarling in delight of the prospect of getting those democracy addicts behind bars where they belong.

Only thing is there is something they forgot about. The law.

They also forgot about another thing - the ACLU.

The ACLU has fired a warning shot over Erwin's bow by challenging his ridiculousness:

Ultimately the ACLU of Wisconsin believes the new rules issued by the Wisconsin State Department of Administration, including the requirement for groups as few as four people to secure a permit for a “rally… for the purpose of actively promoting any cause,” are not reasonable. Particularly if the rules are applied to the Solidarity Sing Along which takes place at a reasonable time (the hours between noon and 1:00 p.m. are defined in the DOA’s rules as not being normal working hours) and place such as in the rotunda, where state of Wisconsin has long allowed the public to hold rallies of all sizes.

“Chief Erwin said the permit process has been in place for decades,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Communications Director Stacy Harbaugh. “However, I have been organizing volunteer legal observers to witness protests at the Capitol over the past six years and it has been my experience that Capitol Police have asked for voluntary compliance in filling out permits and in practice have only required permits for protests that require extra staffing, closed streets, access to building electricity and other logistical needs. There has typically been reasonable accommodation for protests large and small, planned or spontaneous.”

The Constitution allows “reasonable time, place and manner” regulations. But such restrictions on the use of space must be content-neutral. By requiring permits for “rallies” of four or more people, the DOA and Capitol Police must look at the content of the event to determine whether or not a group in the Capitol is a “rally” promoting a cause versus a gathering of four people who want to talk about where to get lunch.

In addition, any restriction must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest. Chief Erwin suggests that permits are required for police to adequately accommodate public safety interests, but it is unreasonable to suggest that a group as small as four would overwhelm the police force. Further, the First Amendment requires and the DOA’s own rules allow for defined, spontaneous events. It is the responsibility of the Capitol Police to have staffing plans in place to have the flexibility to protect the safety of all announced and unannounced visitors to the building.

The participants of the Solidarity Sing Along have worked with the Capitol police and staff to accommodate multiple users of the Capitol rotunda. This relationship can and should continue to meet the needs of police to make narrowly tailored, content-neutral space management decisions.

As for the public safety concerns outlined in Erwin’s letter, we believe it is the responsibility of the Capitol Police to ensure that the Capitol building is both a safe place to work and for demonstrators to engage in peaceful speech activity in the rotunda. To threaten to enforce a permit requirement against peaceful, cooperative protesters on the basis of safety concerns arising from the alleged actions of a few individuals would punish those engaging in protected speech activity. If criminal harassment or intimidation is occurring against Capitol workers or singers alike, it is the responsibility of police to address it, not crackdown on peaceful protest.

Indeed, all Erwin - at the orders of Walker - is doing is trying to act as a jack-booted thug. Perhaps instead of threatening the singers, he should be looking at ways at protecting them from the real criminals.

Erwin might also want to try to help enforce the law by finding and confiscating Walker's secret router. That's what a real law enforcement officer would do.