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Zombies Have Fourth Amendment Rights Too

By Eric Lipman

Howard Bashman over at How Appealing picked up on an 8th Circuit case decided yesterday, ruling in favor of seven people who had been arrested in Minneapolis for protesting "consumerism" by dressing up like zombies and plodding around during the 2006 Aquatennial. The court ruled (PDF) that the police had no probable cause to arrest the undead for disorderly conduct. The fact that those arrested were, at the time, engaged in First Amendment-protected expressive activities matters in applying the disorderly conduct statute, the court said. Yes, these people might have been painted white, covered in fake blood, dragging their feet and moaning over a portable sound system, but "the likelihood was great that the plaintiffs? artistic and symbolic message would be understood by those who viewed the protest." The police could not even fall back on qualified immunity; they should damn well have known that there was no probable cause to arrest the defendants, said the 8th Circuit. How could they have been so sure? Because who hasn't read the case where the Minnesota Supreme Court decided that even "protesting homosexuality by riding [a] horse through a crowd gathered to celebrate National Coming Out Day, shouting anti-homosexual statements, swinging a...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on February 25, 2010 (boomark / email).