Occupy Movement Lives On: Lawsuits Filed to Restore Free Speech and Assembly

December 30, 2011

Even though many of the tents in parks across the country have been dismantled, the Occupy movement lives on in not only in spirit and ongoing action, but with a number of lawsuits in which protesters are asserting their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly and challenging mass arrests and use of force.

Lawyers representing protesters have filed lawsuits – or are planning them – in state and federal courts from coast to coast, challenging eviction orders, police tactics and the banning of demonstrators from public properties.

On December, 28, Occupy Albany moved its legal dispute with the city from state to federal court, arguing the underlying constitutional questions about the protesters' right to camp in Albany’s Academy Park should be heard by a federal judge.