D.C. Appeals Court Criticizes Street Closing During Protest

An appellate court yesterday overturned the conviction of a man arrested for crossing a police line during a war protest last year, finding that the government failed to explain the need to close a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.

The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that in prosecuting the demonstrator, the government presented only "hearsay and speculative testimony" to support closing the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, outside Lafayette Square, where protesters were massing.

In a city that has struggled, particularly since Sept. 11, 2001, to balance security and freedom, the decision was a victory for those who say that law enforcement agencies have too much leeway.

The ruling by the city's highest court comes just three weeks before the presidential inauguration, with its massive security operation and its many thousands of protesters. The Secret Service, which is in charge of security for the event, had no comment yesterday.

The appellate case focused on a March 19, 2003, protest across from the White House. About 30 people were arrested across the District that day in a string of protests touched off by the impending start of the war in Iraq. Most of the arrests were in and around Lafayette Square, which is across from the White House.

Andrew Bloch was among those arrested. Like almost all of the others arrested there, he was charged with crossing a police line, which the U.S. Park Police said it had set up at the request of the Secret Service to create a "staging area" for security operations.

Bloch was convicted in a bench trial before D.C. Superior Court Judge Stephen G. Milliken. A professional poker player who went to law school, Bloch appealed the conviction and represented himself earlier this month against the D.C. attorney general in arguments before a three-judge appellate panel.

Appellate Judges Stephen H. Glickman, Theodore R. Newman and Frank E. Schwelb did not say that the street's closing could not be justified. They said it was the role of the Secret Service, the Park Police and other law enforcement agencies to decide when and where such closures take place.

But the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House is a public space, the judges said. The government was required to justify the resulting restriction on the First Amendment, and had failed to do so, they said.

D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said the ruling sent an important message that even in the post-Sept.11 era, the Constitution place limits on the powers of the police.

Since the much-criticized mass arrests in Pershing Park in 2002, Patterson has called for changes in how D.C. police handle large protests.

Last week, the council approved legislation that will give D.C. police new guidelines for managing such events. Preemptive action that could chill free speech is precluded by the new law, and use of police lines to encircle protesters generally would be off-limits.

Mary Cheh, a law professor at George Washington University who served as a special adviser to Patterson's committee as it investigated the Pershing Park arrests, said the court's decision "will make the police be more careful, and hopefully, be more thoughtful about what they're doing."

Bloch, 35, was living in Takoma Park at the time of his arrest and is moving to Las Vegas. He said he hopes that the ruling will remind police that part of their job is to protect personal freedoms.