The Issaquah Press: Jonathan Scruggs, litigation staff counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., said the decision to single out people handing out leaflets is a problem. Scruggs and other attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund represent Ascherl in the case. “Quarantining freedom of speech to certain areas just does not comply with the First Amendment,” Scruggs said. Salmon Days receives financial and logistical support from the city, and requires a municipal permit to operate. “If you’re going to allow a person to sit there and eat his hot dog, or you’re going to allow people to line up in line or stand at booths, or to stand still and watch something — for example, you could have 10 people just standing still talking about football,” he said. “There’s no reason to allow those things, and yet ban a person from both standing and walking around with a pamphlet in his hand.”
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