Mayor Giuliani vs. the First Amendment

A signature behavior of the Giuliani administration in New York City was its aggressive attempt to suppress various forms of free speech, ranging from prohibiting public assembly to workplace retaliation against whistle blowers to censoring harmless satire.

At the end of Giuliani's second and final term the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union published a round-up of first amendment cases they were involved with during the Giuliani years. Of the 31 cases that were resolved by the time Giuliani left office, the Giuliani administration was defeated in full or in part in 27 of them.

A few of the cases:

Housing Works v. Safir Challenged the constitutionality of various policies limiting the size of demonstrations at City Hall or barring them entirely while excepting from limits events approved by the Mayor (such as rallies for the New York Yankees) . The federal court issued preliminary injunctions against policies in July 1998 and November 1998 and a permanent injunction in April 2000, which the City did not appeal.

Martens v. Giuliani Challenged NYPD policy of holding in jail for arraignment (and thus usually overnight) any person charged with a minor offense if the alleged offense occured at a demonstration. Shortly after the NYCLU filed suit, the Police Department rescinded the policy.

Walton v. Safir Challenged April 1999 dismissal from NYPD of African-American police officer who, in aftermath of shooting of Amadou Diallo by four white members of the NYPD’s Street Crime Unit, spoke out about racial profiling by unit. Federal District Court ruled in November 2000 that NYPD had dismissed officer in retaliation for her public statements and in July 2001 ordered officer reinstated to NYPD employment.

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church v. City of New York Challenged constitutionality of NYPD efforts to arrest homeless persons who were sleeping on private property of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church with permission of Church, which allowed such use of its property as part of Church’s religious work to help the homeless. In December 2001 federal District Court issued temporary restraining order barring NYPD from entering Church property to disperse homeless persons.

New York Magazine v. City of New York Provided amicus curiae support for New York Magazine’s challenge to a MTA decision to refuse to permit New York Magazine to advertise its magazine on city buses with an ad that satirized the Mayor. The federal courts found in favor of New York Magazine.

The complete case list is here.

A repeated defense by the Giuliani administration in these cases was the claim that the city was simply trying to implement the 'quality of life' police initiatives they said were responsible for a reduction in crime statistics. However, a reading of the cases makes clear that the Mayor often used the powers of his office to illegally silence or punish any individual or group he viewed as an opponent, no matter how petty that so-called opposition actually was.