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The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

Government Finds Free Speech Expensive

During a Bush rally on July 4, 2004, in Austin Texas, Nicole and Jeffery Rank were arrested and charged with trespassing for refusing to cover their anti-Bush T-shirts.

The couple was not causing problems or behaving inappropriately. They were merely engaging in a rather benign and peaceful form of protest. Nonetheless, federal authorities viewed their T-shirts as a threat and seized the couple as if they were involved with some sort of terrorist plot.

The couple, however, was recently vindicated by a judge’s dismissal of all charges and a settlement with the government in the amount of $80,000 for the infringement. The government learned a very important lesson in this case: Free speech can be very expensive, so don’t try to take it unless you're prepared to pay the price.

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