Your Constitutional 
Right to Petition! 
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If you are going to be able to conduct your petition work unmolested by merchants and police, it is best to know a little about your constitutional right to petition. 

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides:

"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . the right of the people 
  . . . to petition the government for redress of grievances." 

The Georgia Constitution, 
Article I. The Bill of Rights, Section I.  Rights of Persons, 
Paragraph IX. Right to assemble and petition, provides: 

"The people have the right . . . to apply by petition or remonstrance 
to those vested with the powers of government for redress of grievances." 

These rights apply to what are known in Constitutional Law as "traditional public forums", including parks and sidewalks.  While First Amendment activity may be subject to "reasonable time, manner and place regulations if 'the restrictions are content-neutral, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication'," they may not be outright denied.  Stone Mountain Memorial Association v Zauber 262 Ga. 661, at 662 (1993), which followed the reasoning of United States v Grace, 461 U.S. 171 at 177 (1983). 

And the U.S. Supreme Court held in Prunyard Shopping Center v Robins, 447 US 74 (1980), (synopsis.pdf) that a state recognition of a right to petition on private property to which the public had been invited violates no federal property right. The Pruneyard decision is useful for propaganda and for bluffing our way past hostile merchants.  But please don't rely on it to the extent that you face arrest. 

The Georgia Supreme Court held in Citizens for Ethical Government, Inc. v Gwinnett Place Associates, L.P. 260 Ga. 245 (1990) "that nothing in the Georgia Constitution or the Recall Act of 1989, either separately or together, establishes a right of private citizens to enter onto such property to solicit signatures for a recall petition.  In so holding we .  .  .  decline to follow the reasoning of the California Supreme Court found in Robins v Pruneyard Shopping Center .  .  .  " (at p.246).   The facts of this case involved recall petition activity at a mall where the owners had "uniformly applied" a blanket prohibition on "all solicitation and political activity in the mall". 
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Please note that I am not an attorney.  I have researched these issues with the assistance of attorneys, including attorneys experienced in First Amendment Law.  Our goal is not to test the bounds of Constitutional Law as it relates to the right to petition.  Our goal is to file complete and valid petitions to place our Presidential and local candidates on the ballot for the 2000 election. 

If you do encounter police harrassment that you feel violates your rights, please let us know.  We are in communication with First Amendment attorneys who have agreed to assist us in Court, when we have a case with a good set of facts on which we can prevail. 

-- Hugh Esco
Canvas Director, 
Georgia Green Party
 
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