FIRST AMENDMENT ATTORNEYS

Listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers

JON KATZ, P.C., WINS VINDICATION FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTORS

March 12, 2003, Silver Spring, MD - Baltimore City, Maryland, has reversed its refusal for an animal rights group to park its traveling protest truck outside the Ringling Brothers circus's opening night on March 12, 2003. The group hired First Amendment lawyer Jonathan L. Katz of Silver Spring, Maryland's JON KATZ, P.C., to seek the reversal.

Baltimore City's Department of Public Works originally turned down the permit application of Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose traveling Reality Truck shows videotapes from circuses and slaughterhouses as part of PETA's campaign for compassionate treatment of animals. Baltimore's February 27 permit rejection letter cited anticipated pedestrian traffic as the reason for the denial.

PETA's lawyer Jonathan Katz obtained a reversal for PETA one day before the circus's opening night, after arguing to Baltimore's Law Department that the permit denial amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint of protected speech. He argued that Baltimore had a particular First Amendment problem for not even having written guidelines for granting or denying such permit applications.

When the circus lights go up on March 12 at Baltimore's First Mariner Arena, PETA's Reality TV truck will be parked in front showing video footage about the circus industry and passing out literature about the industry's treatment of animals.

PETA's lawyer Jonathan Katz, who is a longtime vegetarian and animal rights supporter, said: "The very essence of the First Amendment is the right to peacefully demonstrate. It is a great day that PETA's demonstration rights were vindicated, but sad that the initial permit request was denied in the first place. The lesson here is to continue fighting whenever our Constitutional rights are denied."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Jonathan L. Katz

Lawyer for PETA

JON KATZ, P.C.

Attorney at Law
JON KATZ, P.C.
8720 Georgia Ave., Suite 703
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Tel: (301) 495-4300
Fax: (301) 495-8815

jon[at]katzjustice[dot]com

http://wwww.katzjustice.com/firstamend.htm

Related websites:

http://www.peta.org (PETA's website)

http://www.peta.org/feat/reality/ (covering PETA's Reality Truck)

http://www.circuswatch.com/ (PETA's circus website)

For samples of Jon Katz, P.C.'s wins for justice, click here. (Each case is different (e.g., with a different set of facts, law, and adjudicators), and this listing is by no means meant to indicate the results JON KATZ, P.C., will obtain for future clients. Our goal, of course, is for winning advocacy at every turn).

Listed in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers

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