The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent

This report surveys federal and local police actions in the United States during the period 1999-2004 involving lawful public expressions of dissent and free speech. All of the police activities cited are from firsthand experience of the National Lawyers Guild, the oldest human rights organization in the country. The conclusion of this survey is that rather than protecting First Amendment rights of United States citizens and prosecuting police abuses as it ought to do, the Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft has systematically encouraged these abuses and acted as a cheerleader for government officals using excessive force and abusing their athority against citizens engaged in free speech.