Looking for Trouble

SeaMAC will appeal dismissal of lawsuit against King County over cancelled Metro bus ads

(Press release from Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, an all-volunteer organization incorporated in Washington State. For more information: www.SeaMAC.org)

Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) has filed an appeal with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the recent federal court decision to dismiss SeaMAC’s lawsuit against King County for canceling a contract with SeaMAC to run ads on twelve Metro buses.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington will continue to represent SeaMAC in the appeal.

“We’re unhappy that a jury will not be allowed to examine the evidence, but ACLU’s legal team has decided that there is a very good case to be made that the dismissal was improper and should be overturned,” said Mark Eichinger-Wiese, a volunteer with SeaMAC.

“King County censored SeaMAC’s free speech while protecting the free speech of those who want to silence SeaMAC’s message. Criticism of Israel should not be singled out for censorship, especially when based on evidence from the United Nations and international human rights groups,” said Edward Mast, another SeaMAC volunteer.

The bus ads, reading “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work,” were examined, approved, and accepted by King County and Metro officials. SeaMAC signed a contract and paid the full cost in advance, and the ads were printed and scheduled to run for four weeks starting on December 27, 2010. The date was chosen because it was the second anniversary of Israel’s three-week military offensive against the captive population of Gaza in 2008-9, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians — most of them non-combatants and more than 300 of them children.

The language of the ad was chosen to reflect the fact that investigations by Amnesty International, the United Nations and others found evidence of war crimes committed by Israel during the assault on Gaza. Other war crimes have been documented during Israel’s long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

At the last minute, on December 23, 2010, King County reversed course, cancelled the contract, and refused to run the ads. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington is representing SeaMAC in a lawsuit against King County for breach of contract and for violating SeaMAC’s First Amendment right of free expression. The trial was scheduled to begin in federal court on October 31. King County lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and a federal judge granted King County’s motion on October 10.

An appeal to the Ninth District Court typically takes twelve months or more to reach oral argument before a panel of three judges. If the panel grants the appeal, the case will go back to trial in before a six-person jury.