Posted on 03/14/2016 4:11:12 PM PDT by Lorianne
Donald Trump rallies are known to draw a large crowd of supporters and protestors — but a little known law supported by President Obama in 2012 demands Secret Service stop protests among any of the officials they’re charged to protect.
Slate writer Dahlia Lithwick reported back in 2012 that President Obama signed an anti-protest bill into law prohibiting anyone from “knowingly… impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions” in locations guarded by the Secret Service.
That includes speeches made by the Republican frontrunner and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who has Secret Service protection for life.
The amendment added to H.R. 347 makes it a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
This means that any area with permanent or temporary Secret Service protection are not free speech zones.
“(H.R. 347) could be misused as part of a larger move by the Secret Service and others to suppress lawful protest by relegating it to particular locations at a public event,” Gabe Rottman, a policy adviser for the ACLU, said in 2012.
“These ‘free speech zones,’” he continued, “are frequently used to target certain viewpoints or to keep protesters away from the cameras.”
Such a situation occurred at a Trump rally in Georgia on Monday when two dozen black college students were ejected from an event held by the Republican frontrunner.
Despite having tickets to the event, the city of Valdosta’s police department, escorted the black students to a “designated protest zone” about a five-minute walk from the college gym.
It’s ironic that President Obama is silencing the same people who overwhelmingly supported him.
Thank you mister Obama
It will be nice to some Democrats getting to live in the world they created
He’d better make this clear to the AG. she might ascribe to the notion of “community policing” and all that entails.
BS...The law has been around since 1971. They just added some minor stuff...protecting him.
Seems like a perfectly reasonable law - peaceable assembly, carrying signs, etc. is ok. Violence and obstruction are not.
As with everything else Obummer does, he does not know he did this.
The 78 year old “Cowboy” who punch out the thug in N.C. needs to make sure the disrupter is charged with this crime.
Yeah, but that law only applies to Democrats. /s
Someone should tell the dummies on Fox’s “The Five.” They all think the mob can protest inside the venue where the rally is taking place. This law bans that.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
So this is one more law to be ignored just like the slugs ignore the immigration laws.
Not worth the paper used to print.
So if they enter the rally and protest there, it is a crime and they should be arrested. Why are they not arrested?
Inequality before the law.
Put the pressure on the other side for not following the law they agitated for. Push the hypocrisy angle upon not enforcing laws equitably, but on a partisan line basis.
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