Victory in Goodman v. St. Paul

Annette Warren Dickerson [mailto:alerts@ccrjustice.org]

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

 

We are writing to let you know about a victory in one of our cases.  

 

Victory in Goodman v. St. Paul!

 

Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) with co-counsel Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York and Albert Goins in Minneapolis, celebrated a landmark settlement in Goodman v. St. Paul, a federal lawsuit brought by Democracy Now! journalists Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, and Nicole Salazar against the Minneapolis-St. Paul police departments and the U.S. Secret Service, arising from law enforcement’s unlawful arrest and use of excessive of force during the journalists’ coverage of protests and demonstrations around the 2008 Republic National Convention (RNC).

 

Steven Reiss from Weil, Gotshal & Manges discussed the settlement during a press conference held at Occupy Wall Street in New York. Goodman also highlighted the case during a broadcast of Democracy Now! on Monday morning.

 

The final settlement includes compensation of $100,000 for the three journalists and an agreement by the St. Paul police department to implement a training program for officers regarding the First Amendment rights of the press and public with respect to police operations—including police handling of media coverage of mass demonstrations—and to pursue implementation of the training program in Minneapolis and statewide.  

 

CCR and the Plaintiffs hope this settlement sends a strong message to police departments all over the country – including the New York Police Department responding to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and police departments in cities hosting upcoming political conventions – that the First Amendment rights of protestors and journalists must be respected and that the police will be held accountable for unlawful and overly aggressive law enforcement tactics.The policies, practices and actions of federal and local law enforcement at the RNC are part of a larger civil liberties crisis that has been intensifying at an alarming rate over the past decade. CCR, with the support of people like you, will continue the fight for the constitutional rights of both protestors and journalists.

 

Thank you for your continued support.

 

Annette Warren Dickerson

Director of Education and Outreach

 

Center for Constitutional Rights ll 666 Broadway 7th floor NY, NY 10012 ll 212-614-6464 ll www.ccrjustice.org