NYC Artist Wins Federal Suit Against U.S. Gov’t
by Robert Lederman <ARTISTpres@aol.com>, 3/15/2000
Contact: Neal Goldfarb Wash. D.C. ACLU (703) 412-6247; Robert Lederman (718) 743-3722; (917) 345-7907
United States District Judge for the D.C. Circuit Richard W. Roberts has just issued a ruling in favor of plaintiff Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. against the U.S. government concerning the handing out of leaflets in front of the U.S. Capitol.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ROBERT LEDERMAN Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants. Civil Action No. 99-3359 (RWR)
Lederman was arrested during Arts Advocacy Day on 3/11/97 while handing out leaflets about NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s efforts to eliminate street artists. At the time Mayor Giuliani was appealing a ruling by the 2nd Circuit Federal Appeals Court [Bery et al v City of New York/Lederman et al v City of New York Docket Nos. 95-9089 (L), 95-9131, 96-7137] that had granted street artists full First Amendment protection and had overturned the City’s licensing requirement for street artists. Mayor Giuliani’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was eventually denied.
For the Arts Advocacy Day arrest, Lederman was tried in the D.C. Criminal Court on 6/9/97.
(If you want to read Robert Lederman's 1997 full description of this arrest visit <http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nydcarr.html>).
On 11/10/98 D.C. Judge Jerry Byrd found Lederman not guilty and ruled that the ordinance he was arrested under, which banned expressive activity in front of the Capitol without a permit, was unconstitutional.
Lederman, represented by ACLU attorney Neal Goldfarb then filed a Federal lawsuit attempting to get a permanent injunction against the ordinance which has as of today been granted. In his 40 page ruling Federal Judge Roberts found that the ordinance was not narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest and that it violated the First Amendment and permanently enjoined its enforcement.
Lederman issued the following statement: "I’m delighted that the Federal Court has agreed that quietly handing out a few leaflets about the First Amendment in front of the U.S. Congress requires no permit or permission. Once again, Mayor Giuliani’s illegal efforts to silence freedom of speech generally, and his critics’ speech in particular, have failed. I’m grateful to the Washington D.C. ACLU for their assistance in both my criminal trial and in this lawsuit and especially want to thank my attorney, Mr. Neal Goldfarb for his excellent work in this case. Unfortunately the Mayor’s efforts to eliminate street artists have never ceased for a single day during his administration. After losing the street artist licensing case he had his 680 lawyers create a permit for artists in parks, which we are also suing him over [Lederman et al v Giuliani 98 Civ. 2024 (LMM) UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK].
Not content to wait for that case to conclude the Mayor’s Street Vendor Review Panel has been quietly closing virtually every street where artists show their work to all forms of vending. I and the members of ARTIST intend to continue our struggle against this enemy of speech and once again thank the Federal courts for their recognition of our rights".
Robert Lederman is an artist, a regular columnist for the Greenwich Village Gazette [See: http://www.gvny.com/ for an extensive archive of Lederman columns] The Shadow and Street News, and is the author of hundreds of published essays concerning Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. His essays and letters have appeared in the NY Times, NY Post, Daily News, Newsday, Brooklyn Bridge, Park Slope Courier, The Daily Challenge, Amsterdam News, Sandbox, Penthouse, Our Town, NY Press and are available on hundreds of websites around the world. Lederman has been falsely arrested 41 times to date for his anti-Giuliani activities and has never been convicted of any of the charges. He is best known for creating hundreds of paintings of Mayor Giuliani as a Hitler like dictator.
Also see: http://www.levymultimedia.com/lederman/index.htm for Lederman’s essays on Malathion and the spraying of insecticides on NYC
For information contact:
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics), Ph: 718-743-3722
Email: ARTISTpres@aol.com
Website: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html