{"id":18567,"date":"2026-07-03T13:34:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/?p=18567"},"modified":"2026-07-03T13:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:34:52","slug":"civil-liberties-defense-center-secures-restoration-of-eugenes-federal-free-speech-plaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/civil-liberties-defense-center-secures-restoration-of-eugenes-federal-free-speech-plaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Liberties Defense Center Secures Restoration of Eugene’s Federal Free Speech Plaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONMIDDELLIJK TE PUBLICEREN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civil Liberties Defense Center Secures Restoration of Eugene’s Federal Free Speech Plaza<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eugene, OR\u00a0 \u2013 In compliance with a federal court order, the federal government removed a fence it had recently erected around Eugene’s longstanding Federal Free Speech Plaza, restoring public access to one of Eugene\u2019s most important public spaces for protest, assembly, and free expression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Authorities

Authorities remove barricades at Free Speech Plaza. Source: CLDC<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The U.S. district court order and removal are the result of a lawsuit brought by the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) on behalf of local residents who challenged the General Services Administration’s decision to enclose the plaza with a tall metal security fence. Yesterday afternoon, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government’s request to delay the district court’s order to have the fence gone by 7am July 2 in order to have the Free Speech Plaza available for the 4th of July weekend. The appeal will continue to waste taxpayer dollars, the district court case will proceed to the merits, and the federal government will continue to concoct exaggerated and dubious claims in an attempt to justify resurrecting their fence, chilling dissent and protest against the current regime and its wars and immigration policies.<\/p>\n

For decades, the Federal Free Speech Plaza has served as Eugene’s gathering place for rallies, vigils, demonstrations, labor actions, and community events. Fencing off the plaza unlawfully closed a traditional public forum that has long been dedicated to First Amendment activity.<\/p>\n

Tyrras Warren, one of the plaintiffs in this case, exclaimed: “The timing of this decision could not be more important. Judge Kasubhai affirmed that the Federal Free Speech Plaza should remain open for the exercise of First Amendment rights as our country celebrates its 250th birthday. While we prepare to honor the freedoms that define this nation, the federal government fought to keep the Plaza closed through Independence Day because it feared community dissent. The First Amendment exists precisely to protect voices like ours. This victory belongs to everyone who believes our public spaces should remain open to the public.”<\/p>\n

The federal government installed the fence in late April, spending approximately $270,000 to \u201ctemporarily\u201d (for an estimated two years) close off 90% of the plaza to public access. As CLDC successfully argued, the government failed to justify closing one of Eugene’s most significant traditional public forums, violating the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

“The Constitution does not allow the government to fence off public forums simply because protected speech may be inconvenient or controversial,” said Marianne Dugan, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “Today’s ruling reaffirms a fundamental constitutional principle: public spaces that have long been dedicated to free expression cannot be closed without satisfying the strict protections required by the First Amendment. This decision protects not only our clients, but everyone who wishes to peacefully gather and speak in Eugene’s Federal Free Speech Plaza.”<\/p>\n

The Ninth Circuit had scheduled oral argument on the government’s renewed emergency motion for a stay pending appeal for July 8, but yesterday the government abruptly withdrew that motion. While the appeal proceeds, the fence remains down, pursuant to the district court’s order.<\/p>\n

CLDC will continue defending the rights of Eugene residents and all Oregonians to gather, protest, and exercise their First Amendment freedoms in public spaces.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Civil Liberties Defense Center Secures Restoration of Eugene’s Federal Free Speech Plaza   Eugene, OR\u00a0 \u2013 In compliance with a federal court order, the federal government removed a fence it had recently erected around Eugene’s longstanding Federal Free Speech Plaza, restoring public access to one of Eugene\u2019s most important public spaces for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,721],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18567"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18573,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18567\/revisions\/18573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cldc.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}