FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 24, 2022
Media contact: [email protected]
WHO/WHAT
Vasu Abhiraman, ACLU of Georgia Senior Policy Counsel and Deputy Political Director - Testifying on HB 1 (The FORUM Act) at the Senate Judiciary Committee Meeting
Nneka Ewulonu, ACLU of Georgia Staff Attorney - Testifying on SB 171 (Anti-Protest Bill) at the House Judiciary Non-Civil Smith Subcommittee Meeting
WHEN/WHERE
SB 171Georgia State Capitol (206 Washington St SW Atlanta GA 30334)132 CAPLink to livestream
1:00 PM
HB 1
Paul D. Coverdell Legislative Office Building (18 Capitol Square SW Atlanta, GA 30334)CLOB 307Link to Livestream
2:00 PM
QUOTE
From Nneka Ewulonu, ACLU of Georgia Staff Attorney on SB 171:“SB 171 creates unnecessary regulations on speech and assembly rights. When the government gives itself the power to deny access to a forum of expression before the expression occurs, this power has a strong presumption of unconstitutionality.”
From Vasu Abhiraman, ACLU of Georgia Senior Policy Counsel and Deputy Political Director on HB 1:“To claim that you are protecting free speech on college campuses with HB 1 while silencing Georgians in the cradle of the civil rights movement with SB 171 is deeply inconsistent and hypocritical. As an organization that has protected free speech for over 100 years, we reject the legislature’s sloppy attempt to have it both ways. The First Amendment is not a political football.”
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