The anti-Republican protesters at the General Assembly would love for North Carolinians to believe their free-speech rights are being violated by legislative leadership. That, of course, isn’t true. John Hood explains why.
Last year, a collection of left-wing groups began sponsoring weekly protests at the Legislative Building in Raleigh. The so-called Moral Monday movement grew to encompass thousands of activists from across the state and beyond. It attracted tremendous media attention. It also resulted in several hundred arrests as many protestors ignored the standing rules of the General Assembly and attempted to disrupt the normal operation of North Carolina state government.
But some of the arrests were questionable, involving either innocent bystanders, ambiguous regulations, or both. Just before the 2014 General Assembly session convened, the Legislative Services Commission released a revised set of rules. Although Moral Monday activists and like-minded editorialists claim the revision was some kind of tyrannical imposition, the truth is quite different. The new rules make it clear that the Legislative Building is open to all to say anything they like to anyone they like — as long as their actions are consistent with the equal rights of others to do the same, and of elected officials to perform their duties.
That means that lobbying lawmakers is perfectly fine but shouting them down is not. It means that assembling to protest legislative action is perfectly fine — at the south entrance of the Legislative Building if your crowd will fit that space, or on the Halifax Mall at the north entrance if you expect more than 200 people — but that assembling to block access to legislative chambers or offices is not.
A limitation of free speech? Baloney. Similar rules are in place at virtually every other deliberative body in the United States, including Congress. Neither U.S. House Speaker John Boehner nor U.S. Senate leader Harry Reid would dream of allowing protestors to obstruct or shout down their proceedings.
The anti-Republican protesters have every right to be anti-Republican. They do not have the right to disrupt the work of the legislature. When they disrupt the work of the legislature, they are disrespecting their fellow North Carolinians who voted for the current majority.
