The Republican National Convention may be two months away from opening in New York City, but scores of lawyers are already bracing for battle.
The New York Civil Liberties Union has mounted a multifaceted "Protecting Protest" campaign that includes legal action against the city, filing three lawsuits in federal court in New York seeking an injunction to prevent the police from using heavy-handed practices to discourage protesters at the convention.
The lawsuits do not seek to impede the police from doing their jobs, according to Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The suits ask the court to limit police use of certain crowd-control tactics. The suits specifically address the authority of the New York City Police Department to close off streets, search demonstrators, contain people behind metal barricades and deploy horses to disperse crowds.
The article goes on to say that police are anticipating as many as 1,000 arrests per day, and each arrestee will need a prompt arraignment and defense counsel. I wonder if the Republicans ever stop to wonder why so many people would be willing to get arrested to protest their policies, or whether they just write the protestors off as inconsequential wackos? As far as I know, the Democrats in Boston are anticipating no similar problems. Hmmmm . . . .