Santorum’s ‘Bubble Boy’ policy at book signing sparks lawsuit

June 1, 2006

The incident sparked a few headlines last year, but it seemed like one of those stories that would fade away. Fortunately, this new [tag]lawsuit[/tag] will remind people about a pretty ridiculous skirmish.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a group of women who claim their constitutional rights were violated when they were ordered to leave a book signing event featuring Sen. [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R., Pa.).

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, claims that two of the women were arrested for trespassing last year and three others, from Delaware County, were threatened with arrest because of their political views.

The closer one looks at the details, the more disconcerting this story is. [tag]Santorum[/tag] was promoting his book, “[tag]It Takes a Family[/tag],” and hosted a “[tag]book signing[/tag] and [tag]discussion[/tag]” at a mall in Wilmington. Several women attended the event in the hopes of asking the senator some pointed questions. A Santorum supporter heard the women joking, alerted a uniformed state trooper, and the women were told they would face arrest if they didn’t leave.

In other words, in the United States, Americans were ejected from a book store — not by store employees, but by a state law-enforcement official — and threatened with [tag]arrest[/tag] because they planned to talk to an elected official about areas of disagreement.

“The advertisements said ‘book signing and discussion,’ not ‘discussion only if you agree with the senator,’ ” said Julia Graff, staff attorney for the Delaware chapter of the ACLU, which joined with the Pennsylvania ACLU chapter in filing the lawsuit. “The trooper denied these women their right to share their views with an elected official. This is precisely the kind of conduct the First Amendment was designed to guard against.”

It’s as if Bush’s “[tag]Bubble[/tag] Boy” policies have started to spread. The president has to be shielded from being in the same room as someone with an anti-war bumper sticker, so it stands to reason that Santorum would be shielded from a critic at a bookstore with a question.

Sick Rick has been so very eager to debate Casey–week after week, if he had his druthers. Maybe he should start with these women instead.

  • It’s supposed to be the lot of any politician in the United States — to deal with hecklers, protesters, and dissenters. Now, it’s beginning to look like our elected officials believe that they are now above that.

    It’s not just an imperial presidency, it’s also an imperial Congress!

    One thing I’ll respect about any politician is the ability to discuss or at least listen to dissenters. RFK did that and more. He had the balls to tell audiences off. I remember an audience with aspiring young doctors in particular.

  • The offending state trooper needs to be suspended without pay while he takes a refresher course in civics. The woman who complained is, well, not too bright and should not be punished simply because an authority figure justified her ignorance. She should have politely been told that this is America, and she is welcome to leave if she’s uncomfortable with democracy in action.

    If Santorum told State troopers to remove people, he should be brought up on charges.

  • Remember—all you have to do is add two little letters—an “a” and an “i”—and Santorum becomes “sanatorium.”

    Ironic, isn’t it?

  • Last night the Frontline show dealing with AIDS had an extended clip of a gay activist just screaming at Clinton during a presidential appearance – calling him Slick Willie, a liar, etc. Clinton just listened and then calmly explained his position. It made me miss the time when we had a grownup for President (and I’m not even a Clinton fan).

  • A sad and troubling story, but one with many counterparts during the last election. These people, who don’t have a clue as to the meaning of democracy, must be sued and sued until it really hurts. That’s the only way to put a stop to this. The press, of course, barely covered any of the outrages during the election– like people ejected from political events or even shopping malls for wearing the wrong t-shirt and protesters being forced to stand somewhere blocks away from the pol, where they’d never be seen. Makes me want to open my checkbook to the ACLU. Keep ’em coming.

    CB–hope you can have a follow up as to how these suits are ultimately resolved. Thanks.

  • I’m not clear who exactly the women are suing. I am not a lawyer, but I would suggest casting a wide net. This the State Police, the individual trooper, soon-to-be-former Senator Santorum. That is a good start.

    I love summer but I would eagerly wish the coming one away if it meant election day had arrived and we could throw bums like this out.

  • What were state troopers doing at a book signing in first place? Protecting little Rickie from terrorists?

  • “What were state troopers doing at a book signing in first place?”

    Maybe we should turn the question around: What were books doing in a police state?

  • It’s a ridiculous situation, of course, but this may be a difficult case for the ACLU to win. I haven’t brushed up on this issue in a while, but as I recall, shopping malls are techincally private property, and the owners have broad authority to curb the exercise of First Amendment rights on their property. Of course, it may make a difference that the women were threatened by a state officer rather than by the store manager, but assuming that the officer was acting on behalf of the manager, there may not be much of a case here, despite Santorum’s outrageous behavior.

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