In September 2008, the ACLU-MN filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of six individuals against Ramsey County. The case argued that Sheriff Robert Fletcher and others under his direction conducted unlawful seizure of vast amounts of constitutionally protected literature during the execution of search warrants in the days leading up to the 2008 RNC.
In raids on three homes in Minneapolis and the central political meeting space in St. Paul, police seized hundreds of different First Amendment protected publications, including boxes of books, pamphlets, leaflets, posters, stickers and buttons that were intended to be distributed as part of the protests against the RNC.
ACLU’s lawsuit alleged that the seizure of First Amendment materials violated our clients' free speech and due process rights guaranteed under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. In March, U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, concluding that significant fact issues should be decided by a federal jury. On Tuesday, the parties reached a settlement before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo I. Brisbois resolving the lawsuit without a jury trial.
Ramsey County agreed to pay the plaintiffs $27,000 in lieu of fees, costs and damages to settle the case. As part of the settlement the plaintiffs arranged a one hour meeting with Sheriff Matt Bostrom. In addition, Ramsey County has agreed to return all of the seized literature and property belonging to the plaintiffs. “We are pleased with the outcome of the settlement and believe that justice has been accomplished,” stated attorney Albert Goins. Goins stated that “these six people have had the courage to uphold the Constitution.”
One of the six plaintiffs, Celia Kutz, stated “we took on this case because we knew that the police raids, mass arrests and indiscriminate collecting of information was a violation of our rights. In this case Ramsey County used fear, by the way of raids and false accusations, as a tactic to intimidate people speaking up for justice. We chose to not be intimidated and want this to serve as a reminder to Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies that there is a cost to illegally suppressing political organizing.”
This is the second settlement won by RNC activists stemming from law enforcement raids during the RNC. Last week three plaintiffs won $50,000 for politically motivated raids on their home. The six plaintiffs in this case, Nathan Clough, Vincent Collora, Scott Demuth, Celia Kutz and Alexander Lundberg intend to donate their litigation proceeds to local organizations that support infrastructure and capacity for social justice movement building.
Volunteer attorneys in the case are Albert Goins of Goins Law Office, Minneapolis and Geneva Finn, Minneapolis.
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CONTACT
ACLU Attorney Teresa Nelson, 651-645-4097 x122
Plaintiff Andrew Fahlstrom [redacted]1
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