PORTLAND – The Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the fees that the state charges protesters to reimburse a city for police costs.

The MCLU on Thursday announced that it had asked the nation’s high court to review a split decision by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that upheld Augusta’s parade fee provision. The ruling, however, did not include a provision that would allow it to be waived for people who could not afford to pay the fee.

A decision on whether the justices will hear the appeal is not expected until the fall.

The case was filed in 2004 in U.S. District Court in Bangor on behalf of Timothy Sullivan of Castine and Larry Dansinger of Monroe, who wanted to organize marches on the streets of the state capital. They were forced to cancel their plans, according to the MCLU, when told they would have to pay nearly $2,000 in traffic control fees. The men said they could not afford to pay the fee.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock ruled in their favor in 2005.

“To block indigents from using the public streets to convey their message, by pointing out channels of communication that may be used free of charge, but are inadequate, is unconstitutional,” Woodcock wrote. “It is the equivalent of a determination that those who cannot afford to pay the fee either have a less important message to convey or must convey it in a less effective way.”

Last year, the appellate court in a 2-1 decision upheld Augusta’s parade fee provision even when individuals seeking to protest by marching in the city’s streets cannot afford to pay it. The majority ruled that there was no need for an indigency requirement for people who can’t raise the fee because people are free to hold a demonstration or parade on public sidewalks. Judge Kermit Lipez of Portland dissented.

“The core of First Amendment protection is the right to public speech on matters of public concern,” MCLU legal director Zachary Heiden said Thursday. “We all benefit, as a democracy, when everyone has a chance to participate in the important debates of our time, whether it is war, economic justice, or civil rights protection.”

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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