Reference no: EM133801392

The White Nationalist Action Party (WNAP) has planned an upcoming demonstration in a medium sized city with a large Black population. The group announces on Parler that people should meet up and march down Main Street at 9:00 Monday morning before having a rally in a nearby park. In prior WNAP events, group members marched, chanted racist slogans and held signs depicting minorities and immigrants as animals or violent criminals. Many of them wore military-style fatigues and body armor, and openly carried firearms.

When city leaders heard about the planned demonstration, they feared that if the march took place it would likely result in violence. So the City Council passed several ordinances regulating public demonstrations. They specified that such events must take place only at the fairgrounds, located near the edge of town. The city said it would require a permit for the event if they expected more than 50 participants, and they would deny a permit for any event the City Council believed would "incite violence, hatred, abuse, or hostility toward a person or group of persons by reasons or reference to religious, racial, ethnic, national, or religious affiliation." They banned using racist symbols like the swastika or KKK hoods. Finally, they prohibited wearing body armor and carrying weapons at political events. WNAP sued, claiming the city was not permitted to take these actions because they violated free expression rights.

Now, assume the march in some form eventually takes place. As expected, many White Nationalist Action Party members wore military fatigues and body armor, and carried firearms. Some displayed Nazi symbols and some held signs with offensive tropes like former President Obama with a bone in his nose. The group chanted white supremacist slogans like "Blood and Soil" and "Go back to Africa".

Some Black counter protestors showed up on the other side of police barricades on the march route holding signs saying "Nazis Suck" and "No Room for Racism". At that point a group of WNAP members broke off from the march and rushed over to the Black men, yelling racist slurs right in their faces and threatening to beat them up. Police detained the WNAP members involved in the incident. The WNAP members take legal action, saying they were victims of unconstitutional restriction of their free speech rights just because people didn't like what they had to say.

Now, given the information above, discuss whether the actions by the city government, protestors, or onlookers would be legal based on the specific tests or standards federal courts apply with regard to First Amendment protections. Make replies to someone with whom you disagree or has discussed something you didn't think about. In your comments, be sure to refer to appropriate terms and concepts from the readings.