It should be considered that, even though plaintiffs do
[39 With all due respect, it should also be noted that before
it became "well established," our Circuit Court repeatedly called
the camping regulation "bad law." Community for Creative Non-
Violence v. Watt, 730 F.2d 600, 605 J. Ginsburg, J. Edwards'
concurring, id., 601; J. Mikva, concurring separately. ]
[40 Defendants incorrectly represent, "Mr. Corneil is not a
plaintiff and the plaintiffs obviously have no standing to raise
a claim relating to Mr. Corneil." Deft's Reply pg. 10.
Plaintiffs do not attempt to make claims on behalf of Mr.
Corneil. Plaintiffs merely assert that the harassment of Mr.
Corneil prior to his death is routine, albeit impermissible,
police policy, and it is the same type of harassment, at the
hands of the same agents, to which plaintiffs, similarly situated
to Mr. Corneil, are routinely subjected. That Mr. Corneil
erupted and died as a result of this incident of police abuse, is
of proximate concern to plaintiffs. Supra, ftn. 39.
]
[41 Even more coincidentally this is the very same "camping
regulation" Magistrate Burnett identified as the one plaintiffs
claimed various officers had used as a pretext for assaulting
them. Motion to Recuse (January 9, 1995), Exhibit 3, pgs. 9, 10.
As if that weren't coincidental enough, the "Officer Haines"
accused of using the same regulation as a pretext for assaulting
plaintiffs on a separate occasion (id. pgs. 11, 12), is the same
Officer Haines pointedly criticized by Judge Green in reference
to the same "camping regulation." Exhibit 3, hereto, pg. "1021."
If that's not sufficiently coincidental, it also happens
that Mr. Robbins was in the same supervisory capacity throughout.]
37
not challenge the validity of the "camping" regulation,
respected authorities have raised significant factual and
practical questions pertaining to the wisdom of the rule.
- "The Court's disposition of this case is marked by two related failings. First, the majority is either unwilling or unable to take seriously the First Amendment claims advanced by respondents. Contrary to the impression given by the Majority, respondents are not supplicants seeking to wheedle an undeserved favor from the Government. They are citizens raising issues of profound public importance who have properly turned to the courts for the vindication of their
constitutional rights. Second, the majority misapplies the
test for ascertaining whether a restraint on speech qualifies
as a reasonable time, place, and manner regulation. In
determining what constitutes a sustainable regulation, the
majority fails to subject the alleged interests of the
Government to the degree of scrutiny required to ensure that
expressive activity protected by the First Amendment remains
free of unnecessary limitations.
- (Facts omitted.)
- "The political dynamics likely to lead Officials to a
disproportionate sensitivity to regulatory as opposed to First
Amendment interests can be discerned in the background of this
case. Although the Park Service appears to have applied the
revised regulations consistently, there are facts in the
record of this case that raise a substantial possibility that
the impetus behind the revision may have derived less from
concerns about administrative difficulties and wear and tear
on the park facilities, than from other, more 'political,'
concerns." CCNV, 486 U.S. 288, Justices Marshall, Brennan,
dissenting, first and last paragraphs.
In sum, plaintiffs complain defendants are making up the
"law" and/or enforcing it unkindly at whim. As stare decisis
shows (supra), this claim is a malingering one. Once again,
defendants urge the Court to ignore the obvious, downplay the
more lethal aspects of the complaint, and merely trust, without
examining any facts, that they are just "doing little more than
attempting to enforce the regulations..
- "(C)ourts must be especially careful in scrutinizing
(time, place, and manner) restrictions on first
amendment expression that the government seeks to
38
justify on eye-pleasing grounds.... Because of their
subjective nature, aesthetic concerns are easily
manipulated, and not generally susceptible of objective
proof. The danger is not just ... that government
might adopt an aesthetic rationale as a pretext for an
impermissible motive, but rather that so many forms of
robust expression are by their very nature boisterous,
untidy, unsightly, and downright unpleasant for
unsympathetic viewers. Distaste for the vigor with
which a message is asserted can too easily be cast as
an aesthetic interest in compelling others to be more
moderate and decorous - and, in consequence, less
effective - in conveying their message." White House
Vigil for the ERA v. Clark, 746 F.2d 1518, 1551; City
Council v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 103 S. Ct. 2118,
majority opinion, 2139, 2141.
In haggling over piddling distinctions between "permissible
sleep" v. "impermissible sleep," whether or not a flag may or may
not be attached to a sign, or whether or not the base of a sign
may or may not be raised 12 inches off the ground we are reminded
of Judge Bryant's observation, this is "a piddling case, but
really it is a bedeviling case." Exhibit 1, pg. 4.
The bedeviling fact is that the rule of law is at stake.
- "The government of the United States has been
emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of
men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high
appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the
violation of a vested legal right." Marbury v.
Madison, 1 Cranch 138, 163 (1803).
CONCLUSION
Plaintiffs feel there is little purpose in expending further
time or paper in discussion of these most basic of issues.
Having held this complaint is "not frivolous," if the Court
is nonetheless of the opinion that plaintiffs are not entitled to
a hearing on their complaint, please let us have that decision so
this case may either proceed within the traditional channels, or
39
seek another, perhaps more technologically adept (hence
"civilized"?) truth-seeking forum.
Respectfully submitted this ____ day of March, 1995,
______________________
William Thomas
2817 11th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-462-0757
40