http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190760971.html
ACLU sues state over Capitol protest rules
Madison -- The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin sued Gov. Scott Walker's administration in federal court Monday to stop arrests of the daily protest singers in the state Capitol.
The protests happening at the statehouse for two years now have pitted free speech concerns against the complaints of Republican officials who say that the demonstrators harass opponents and that many other states have rules in place to regulate such events.
The suit filed in Madison Monday seeks to block Capitol Police and the state Departement of Administration from requiring permits for demonstrations and fining protesters who don't comply.
The lawsuit says that Michael Kissick, an assistant professor of medical physics and human oncology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, participated in demonstrations in the rotunda until September 2012, but then stopped because of concerns about ticketing and arrests.
“I have always attempted to follow the law while expressing my political views,” Kissick said in a statement. “I resent being treated as criminal for speaking freely in a public forum. This country was founded on dissent, so I view myself as a proud American exercising my rights to engage in the most protected of all speech."
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