A UW-Madison professor and the ACLU of Wisconsin sued the heads of the state Department of Administration and Capitol Police on Monday to block enforcement of rules for gatherings at the Capitol that have led to dozens of arrests and tickets since September.
The lawsuit, brought by Michael Kissick, an assistant professor in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, says that the permit policy being enforced at the Capitol violates the U.S. Constitution because it is content-based, vague, overly broad and restrictive.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Madison, along with a motion for a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the permit policy by DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch and Capitol Police Chief David Erwin.
The lawsuit states that the permit policy violates the free-speech and due-process rights of those who gather at the Capitol. It asks that DOA and police be permanently barred from requiring permits and continuing to arrest or cite protesters for failing to obtain permits.