The ACLU of Ohio, which represents several groups planning to demonstrate during the RNC, said the parade route regulations announced Wednesday are unconstitutional.
“There wasn’t much that we found acceptable,” Christine Link, Executive Director of the ACLU of Ohio, told newsnet5.com.
The route starts on the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, turns right on Ontario and ends at East 9th street. Groups have an hour to complete the route.
Link says the route is too far from the convention itself and demonstrators will not be able to interact with the delegates.
“The point is that we need to be seen and heard by a major political party,” Link said.
She also criticized the time restrictions, noting that the marches will not align well with delegates' schedules.
Route times are expected to run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, July 18; and the last parade will end by 5 p.m. In the days that follow, parades will run from from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.. And the last parade is expected to end no later than 2 p.m.
“We know of at least 18 groups now that want to march; and I think they only allocated enough time for maybe 16. And that’s if everything that runs like clockwork,” Link said.
A lawyer for the city said that it “considered constitutional rights” when determining the route.
Former Cuyahoga County Judge Ken Callahan said that legal precedents exist on both sides of the issue.
In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled against the buffer zone around a Massachusetts abortion clinic citing free speech rights.
But a judge also ruled in favor of the City of Denver for restricting its marching routes, citing reasonable "time and place" restrictions.
“If it goes to court, a judge is going to have to weigh free speech concerns against the duty of the government to provide safety to the delegates and citizens under their care,” Callahan explained.
The ACLU of Ohio said it would prefer a compromise with the City of Cleveland before taking any legal action.
