{"id":229123,"date":"2020-08-18T14:53:20","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T19:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=229123"},"modified":"2020-08-18T14:53:20","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T19:53:20","slug":"lawmakers-investigation-arrest-pro-life-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lawmakers-investigation-arrest-pro-life-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers demand investigation into arrest of pro-life students in D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Two lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination” of two pro-life students who were arrested in Washington, D.C.<\/a>, after using sidewalk chalk<\/em> to write the phrase “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” in front of a local Planned Parenthood. The students, who are affiliated with Students for Life of America, were charged with defacing public or private property, which is punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and\/or up to 180 days in jail.<\/p>\n

Fox News<\/a> is reporting that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) of the Oversight Committee, wrote a letter to Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband questioning the validity of the arrest. The arrest raised eyebrows particularly because the slogan “Defund the Police” was recently painted<\/em> on a prominent D.C. roadway adjacent to the Mayor’s commissioned painting of “Black Lives Matter,” without similar consequences.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0D.C. police arrest pro-lifers for chalking pro-life messages in front of Planned Parenthood<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis incident, in light of the District allowing other political messages to appear on public property, raises troubling questions about whether the District is respecting the constitutional rights of individuals in a viewpoint-neutral manner,\u201d the duo wrote in their letter. \u201cThe District\u2019s prohibition of the \u2018Black Pre-Born Lives Matter\u2019 message suggests that the District may have engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in light of the District\u2019s allowance for other political messages on public property,\u201d they continued.\u00a0\u201cThe District has only recently paved over the \u2018Defund The Police\u2019 message, more than two months after it was painted. This decision to allow some political messages to be painted or marked on public property but not other suggests that the District may be discriminating against speakers on the basis of their viewpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n

SFLA has said<\/a> it intends to pursue legal action against the Metropolitan Police Department for its viewpoint discrimination. Jordan and Comer also intend to investigate and address any discrimination that may be taking place. They have asked the Justice Department to help them better understand how the agency “evaluates and addresses unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination on public property,” and have called for a staff-level committee briefing of the findings no later than September 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination” of two pro-life students who were arrested in Washington, D.C., after using sidewalk chalk to write the phrase “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” in front of a local Planned Parenthood. The students, who are affiliated with Students for Life of America, were charged with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":228254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2793,3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLawmakers demand investigation into arrest of pro-life students in D.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the "unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination" of two pro-life students who were arrested in D.C..\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lawmakers-investigation-arrest-pro-life-dc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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