Mediation fails in ACLU lawsuit over Milwaukee RNC demonstration plans

MILWAUKEE — Efforts to resolve a lawsuit against the Republican National Convention host city over plans to hold a demonstration at next month’s event failed at a mediation Monday, court documents show.

Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin sued the city of Milwaukee in federal court, claiming the city’s plans to demonstrate during the RNC convention on July 15-18 violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 and seeks a finding that the city’s “emergency ordinance” regarding the RNC is unconstitutional. It also seeks a temporary injunction barring the city from enforcing parts of the ordinance during the RNC.

According to federal court records, a hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Central European Time began Monday at 10:30 a.m. Central European Time, and Justice of the Peace Stephen C. Dries ended in the afternoon with the parties unable to reach an agreement.

The case now returns to U.S. District Court Judge Brett H. Ludwig.

The failure to reach an agreement comes a month before the RNC begins in downtown Milwaukee.

City spokesman Jeff Fleming said the mediation process is still “open” but did not comment further on the mediation talks. He also said the city still hopes to have march and demonstration sites open to the public by the end of this week.

“Our goal is to ensure that people have the full opportunity to express their First Amendment rights, and we also want all events in and around the convention to be safe, so we strive to achieve both goals,” Fleming said.

Where the city will place the demonstration areas and the march route will depend on the boundaries of a “hard” perimeter that the U.S. Secret Service is expected to announce in the coming days. The perimeter will surround three major convention venues: Fiserv Forum, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and the Baird Center.

The lawsuit demands, among other things, that the city keep the parade route “within sight and hearing” of Fiserv Forum, lift all “unreasonable” First Amendment time, location and manner restrictions within the safety “area” and promptly process all permit applications for the use of the podium and march routes.

The fact that the city did not announce the RNC’s demonstration tour “deprives the Coalition of the right to obtain meaningful judicial review of this decision,” the case documents state.

The coalition plans to march on the first day of the convention with “a gathering with several speakers in a position visible and audible from the RNC seats,” court documents state. The group’s planned route runs directly past the main convention venue, Fiserv Forum.

The lawsuit was filed in connection with an ongoing dispute over a park that was to be used as a protest site.

Pere Marquette Park, located on the west bank of the Milwaukee River two blocks from the Fiserv Forum, has long been a place where the city would host a podium for protesters.

Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 leaders have argued that the park is not close enough to Fiserv Forum, the main convention site where former President Donald Trump is expected to formally accept the party’s nomination to seek another term in the White House. Media members from across the country and the world are expected to travel to Milwaukee for the event.

Meanwhile, the RNC and top Republicans have insisted the park will not become a protest zone, with a lawyer saying it would become a “mandatory confrontation area” between protesters and RNC attendees. Instead, the Republican National Committee has sought to reserve the park for its own events during the RNC.

Local businesses also oppose using the park as a demonstration area.

This story will be updated.

Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected]. Tristan Hernandez can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mediation fails in ACLU case over RNC demonstration plan in Milwaukee