Article I Assemblies

What is an Article 1 Assembly?

Men and Women in your local township who come together to:

• Discuss the needs and desires of the people in your township
• Instruct and direct public servants about the needs and desires of the people
• Petition the government for a redress of grievances
• Hold public servants and government departments accountable through Grand Jury audits of public offices and servants
• Also called "Popular Assemblies"

Where do we find this in our Federal Constitution?

Bill of Rights,Article 1

(1st Amendment)

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the RIGHT of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances." (emphasis added)

Where can we find this in other historical writings?

1. 1839, Bouvier's Law Dictionary

"ASSEMBLY is a reunion of a number of person in the same place. There are several kinds of assemblies... Popular assemblies are those where the people meet to deliberate upon their rights, these are guaranteed by the Constitution." Pg. 97

2. 1848, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, by B.J. Lossing, pg. 11

Regarding the signers- "...But neither firmness nor patriotism was wanting in that august assembly. And their own sound judgment and discretion, their own purity of purpose and integrity of conduct, were fortified and strengthened by the voice of the people in popular assemblies, embodied in written instructions for the guidance of their representatives."

Where do we find this in our State Constitution? (Arkansas)

Article 2,Declaration of Rights, section 4

The right of the people peaceably to assemble to consult for the common good, and to petition, by address or remonstrance, the government, or any department thereof, shall never be abridged.

Every state constitution should have an article similar to this.

Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham Alabama 394 U.S. 147 (1969)

This is another unique religious case. In this case, six ministers were accused of inciting to riot and otherwise create a disturbance of the peace. The case came down in 1962. They had a “sit down” and were told they needed a license to have a public gathering. It went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court which said, No, you don’t need to have a license for a First Amendment right to freely assemble.

The gist of the case:

Petitioner, a Negro minister who helped lead 52 Negroes in an orderly civil rights march in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963, was arrested and convicted for violating § 1159 of the city's General Code, an ordinance which proscribes participating in any parade or procession on city streets or public ways without first obtaining a permit from the City Commission. Section 1159 permits the Commission to refuse a parade permit if its members believe "the public welfare, peace, safety, health, decency, good order, morals or convenience require that it be refused." Petitioner had previously been given to understand by a member of the Commission that under no circumstances would petitioner and his group be allowed to demonstrate in Birmingham. The Alabama Court of Appeals reversed the conviction on the grounds, inter alia, that § 1159, as written, unconstitutionally imposed an "invidious prior restraint" without ascertainable standards for the granting of permits, and that the ordinance had been discriminatorily enforced. However, the Alabama Supreme Court in 1967 narrowly construed § 1159 as an objective, even-handed traffic regulation which did not allow the Commission unlimited discretion in granting or withholding permits, and upheld petitioner's conviction

Held:

1. A law subjecting the right of free expression in publicly owned places to the prior restraint of a license, without narrow, objective, and definite standards is unconstitutional, and a person faced with such a law may ignore it and exercise his First Amendment rights. Pp. 394 U. S. 150-151.

2. Picketing and parading may constitute methods of expression entitled to First Amendment protection, and use of the streets for that purpose, though subject to regulation, may not be wholly denied. P. 394 U. S. 152.

3. Since the terms of § 1159 gave the Commission unbridled authority to issue or withhold parade permits without reference to legitimate regulation of public streets and sidewalks, the ordinance would be, absent a limiting construction, unconstitutional on its face. Pp. 394 U. S. 150-151, 394 U. S. 153.

Page 394 U. S. 148