Eye on Williamson has the latest development in the case of the city of Round Rock versus its high school students.
Four parents of Round Rock students charged with misdemeanors during an immigration demonstration last spring sued the City of Round Rock and the Round Rock school district on Thursday, saying the charges violated the teenagers’ constitutional rights of assembly and free speech.
The federal lawsuit is a class action suit, which means it also seeks fair treatment on behalf of other Round Rock students who were detained and issued tickets during the protests in March, said Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project, which is representing the parents and students.
The suit accuses the city and school officials of conspiring to deprive students of their right to assemble and protest during protests against proposed immigration laws on March 30 and 31.
At a Thursday news conference, Harrington noted that the immigration protests were nationwide and said the Round Rock school district “instead of reacting punitively . . . should have done what almost all school districts around the country did and use the protests as a ‘teaching moment’ to help students learn about leadership and dissent in a democracy.”
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Harrington said Round Rock police overreacted when they gave Class C misdemeanor citations to 204 students, accusing them of violating the city’s youth curfew or disrupting class on the second day of demonstrations. The ordinance says anyone under age 17 must be in school between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It also says exercising First Amendment rights can be used as a defense in court.
“The curfew ordinance itself said First Amendment rights were an absolute defense,” Harrington said. “With all the signs that were present, it had to have been obvious to the police that the kids were just exercising that right.”
I don’t blame the cops for handing out the summonses. It’s the District Attorney’s responsibility to exercise prosecutorial discretion and do the right thing. The fact that he finally scored a win in one of these cases doesn’t change that. It’s a shame that this will ultimately be settled through the civil justice system, but sometimes you have to smack people upside the head to get their attention. I’ll keep an eye on this one.
I think they did learn a lesson about leadership and dissent. “People in power will use their power (properly or improperly) when threatened, annoyed, or crossed. It can be expensive to fight this.” These kids can grow up to be a little more skeptical of the beneficence of government officials towards those who annoy them and a little less trusting of official pronouncements.