Civil rights group challenges Hawaiian law
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit in Hawaii, objecting to a new law that allows the police and other authorities to ban people from public property for up to a year without a specific reason.
The Los Angeles Times reports the union says the law is unconstitutional and could potentially be used to keep voters out of polling places or bar groups such as native Hawaiians from the grounds of the state Capitol, thereby chilling their rights to free speech. The law, known as Act 50, prohibits a person or group from entering a public building, park or other public place for up to one year after a warning or request to leave the premises has been issued, and is aimed at ridding areas of squatters. But in its lawsuit, the ACLU of Hawaii said Act 50 was too broad and was being used to restrict free speech by banning people from public places. Full report in the Los Angeles Times