Parade lawyer: I’d like to call Marty Walsh to stand

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/03/parade_lawyer_i_d_like_to_call_marty_walsh_to_stand



‘ROUTE’ OF ISSUE: City Councilor Bill Linehan, above, said he supports shortening the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade route.

Parade lawyer: I’d like to call Marty Walsh to stand
Matt Stout, Laurel J. Sweet, Marie Szaniszlo Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The lawyer for the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade organizers said if given the chance, he’d call Mayor Martin J. Walsh to the stand in their newly filed federal suit fighting his shortened parade route, potentially raising the stakes in an already tense fight.

Attorney Chester Darling — fresh from delivering a copy of the Allied War Veterans Council’s suit against the city, Walsh and police Commissioner William B. Evans yesterday — said he hopes Judge Richard G. Stearns asks to see more evidence from attorneys at today’s scheduled 2 p.m. hearing. If so, he vowed to start calling city officials to court, Walsh included.

“If he goes into an evidentiary hearing, of course I would ask to have the mayor on the stand,” Darling told the Herald, noting that Walsh and other city officials cited public safety concerns after issuing a parade permit that shortened the route from 3 miles to 1.4 miles. “I would like to know what they mean. ... We have a very important First Amendment issue at stake.”

Darling won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that barred gays and lesbians from marching in the parade. His legal strategy could ratchet up the latest fight over the parade. Walsh said he met with organizers Friday, only to learn in the news the next day that they planned to file a lawsuit.

--

Unfortunately the United States Supreme Court ruled gay marriage is the law of the land.

This is the 21^st century, Chester.