Jason sends us a link from the Boise Guardian which reports a US District Court judge declared that tents are free speech, and if there are no tents, the Occupy movement is rendered pointless;
Winmill found the new state law “only prohibits ‘sleeping’ and ‘camping’ on state grounds and does not purport to ban the maintenance of a symbolic tent city which could be staffed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Yet Gov. Otter’s letter announcing his signing of the legislation appears to require the removal of all tents, and that appears to be how the State Police are interpreting the law. Such action is simply not authorized by the statute.”
The judge also said, “Because the reach of the State’s enforcement may exceed the grasp of the statute, this creates the appearance that the state is stretching to suppress the core political message of Occupy Boise – its tents – as presented in a public forum. These circumstances render the State’s enforcement policy of removing Occupy Boise’s tents presumptively invalid under the 1st Amendment.”
In describing Otter’s eviction order for Occupy Boise, Winmill wrote, “Governor Otter’s edict, and the stated intention of the State Police, is to remove Occupy Boise entirely – tents and all. … This creates the appearance that the State is stretching to shut down a political message – a tent city – presented in a public forum.”
I guess no one has thought for a moment that the Occupy movement is pointless with or without their symbolic tents. And since everything seems to be free speech these days, the first hippie to get his lights punched out as an expression of free speech had better be prepared to except the judge’s ruling.
