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Pierre, SD (AP)
A Christian legal group is appealing a federal judge's ruling that found Mount Rushmore did not violate a Minnesota man's free-speech rights when it required him to get a permit before distributing religious materials at the national memorial.
Michael Boardley of Coon Rapids sued the US Interior Department, National Park Service and five federal officials in November 2007 after he was told he would need a permit to distribute “gospel tracts” at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in western South Dakota. He said he later applied for a permit, but did not get one until after he filed the lawsuit.
US District Judge James Robertson of Washington D.C. ruled recently in favor of the federal agencies and officials, saying Mount Rushmore did not violate Boardley's constitutional rights.
But the judge struck down one phrase in National Park Service regulations dealing with permits because the phrase is unconstitutionally vague and gives officials too much discretion.
Boardley's lawyer, Heather Gebelin Hacker of the Alliance Defense Fund, says an appeals court has been asked to review the case.
She says appeal will focus on the requirement that even individuals and small groups have to get permits before engaging in protected speech.
A spokesman for the National Park Service says the agency does not comment on pending court cases
