July 28, 2004

TRENTON, NJ — The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today filed suit against the City of Trenton, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, and Eric Tunstall, director of public property for the City. The suit arises out of the City's refusal to allow Juan Martinez, a local community activist, to use the City Hall Atrium for a press conference. The City denied Mr. Martinez's request after learning that he planned to criticize the mayor's choice for a new police chief.

Grayson Barber, cooperating attorney on behalf of the ACLU-NJ explained, "The City of Trenton violated Mr. Martinez's First Amendment rights in at least two ways: First, it denied public access to a public forum based on the content of his speech. Second, its "approval" process for use of the Atrium — for which there are no clear guidelines — amounts to an impermissible licensing scheme that imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech."

Mr. Martinez was barred from using the City Hall Atrium despite the fact that the mayor, other politicians, community leaders, and other members of the public have used this space for a variety of expressive activities.

In design, purpose, function and use, the City Hall Atrium and adjacent plaza are equivalent to a public park and thus is a "traditional" public forum in which the government may not censor speech.

"The Atrium is, in essence, a public park with a glass roof over a portion of it," said Frank Corrado, co-counsel on behalf of the ACLU-NJ. "Just as the government could not ban Mr. Martinez from setting up a soap box in the park, neither may it banish him from speaking in the Atrium."

Mr. Martinez decided to file a lawsuit after the City refused to allow him access to the Atrium and refused to provide any guidelines for its decision to grant or deny a request to use the facility.

"This is not just about me," said Martinez. "This is about everyone who wishes to exercise their constitutional rights. Just because someone disagrees with the mayor on certain issues, that does not give the City the right to silence them."

As Lenora Lapidus, Legal Director of the ACLU-NJ explained, "The decision to deny access to the Atrium was made on an ad hoc, totally discretionary basis."

"This is a classic example," Lapidus continued, "of the government trying to freeze out the opinions of those who may be critical of official policy. The mayor cannot stay warm and dry inside the Atrium while banishing his critics to shiver outside in the elements."

The lawsuit, Martinez v. City of Trenton, was filed in United States District Court in Trenton.