Santa Cruz, Calif.
An activist's Nazi salute during a City Council meeting caused too much disruption, a judge ruled, saying free speech only goes so far in City Hall.Homeless rights activist Robert Norse filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming the city violated his First and Fourth amendment rights by arresting him at a council meeting in March 2002.
But U.S. District Judge Ronald M. Whyte disagreed in a ruling issued last week. The judge said the action was too disruptive for the venue.
"You don't have the same First Amendment rights in a meeting as you do on the street," the city's lawyer George Kovacevich said. "You have the right to attend, but you don't have the right to say whatever you want, whenever you want."
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