ATLANTA – Today, the ACLU of Georgia filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against Steve Stancil, Executive Director of the Georgia Building Authority and Captain Lewis Young, Chief of the Capitol Police, who have prevented anyone from entering the Capitol building with a hand-held sign, which is core First Amendment activity.
In the complaint, the ACLU of Georgia is “seeking—as soon as possible today, which is the last day of the legislative session—a temporary or permanent restraining order allowing [people] the right to silently display a hand-held sign, no bigger than a poster board, inside the areas of the State Capitol Building that are already open to all other members of the public.”
"In this era of unprecedented attacks on our democracy, freedom of speech and the freedom to petition government officials are more important than ever," said Sean J. Young, Legal Director for the ACLU of Georgia. “Lawmakers should welcome and listen to the very people who elected them to their jobs. Making the State Capitol Building, the seat of democratic deliberation, a no-speech zone betrays fundamental American principles.”