The city of Dallas has rescinded an ordinance that prevented people from carrying signs and protesting near major highways. The ordinance first made the news when the George W. Bush Presidential Library opened.
Protester Paul Heller and five others tested the ordinance by picketing near the library and North Central Expressway. Dallas police gave them tickets. The protesters sued the city, claiming their right to free speech was violated.
"This is the essence of our democracy: to be able to speak in public places regardless of your point of view," Heller said Thursday.
After the opening was over the lawsuit continued on. Twenty-two months later, the lawsuit has forced two important developments.
The first came last week, when the city council rescinded the ordinance that created the problem in the first place.
"I think it's terrific," Heller said. "I think it's a very wise move on the part of the council."
Second, the judge in the case sanctioned the Dallas City Attorney's Office for unfairly keeping key documents from Heller's legal team during a process known as discovery. He ordered the city to pay Heller's legal fees. And he ordered all the city's lawyers to read his 62-page ruling.
Attorney John Helms is a former federal prosecutor. He said the ruling is an embarrassment.
"What that tells me is that the judge believed that there was a systemic problem within the City Attorney's Office about not training the lawyers about how to fly right in federal court," Helms said.
Heller feels vindicated.
"It was such an obvious and outrageous constraint on speech. And there's some things that just motivate you to action," he said.
The fight's not over yet. The ordinance is dead, but the free speech lawsuit still lives on.
