A federal civil-rights lawsuit filed against Little Rock has prompted the city attorney to request that the city's public assembly ordinance be amended to specify the number of participants needed to require a permit purchase.

The city's current ordinance states that "no person" shall engage in a parade or public assembly without obtaining a $25 city permit.

City Attorney Tom Carpenter said that while the ordinance doesn't specify a number, the city generally has not required a permit unless an event included more than 10 participants.

That discretionary policy and the permit ordinance have been questioned in a civil-rights lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in Little Rock.

"Since that ordinance was passed [in 2001], we found that ordinances that didn't have a minimum number in there were being stricken," Carpenter told the Board of Directors when presenting a proposed amendment Tuesday. "We became aware there was an issue because there's a lawsuit filed that challenges our ordinance on a facial basis."

After reviewing case law across the country, Carpenter proposed changing the ordinance so that 20 participants would require the public assembly permit.

Two Missouri men who organized an abortion protest in Little Rock in 2012 sued the city, alleging they wrongfully were arrested and that their First and Fourth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution were violated, including the right to assemble, engage in free speech and exercise of religion, and freedom of arrest without probable cause.

The lawsuit claims that the men were arrested on the pretext of violating the city's permit ordinance when they and others assembled outside an abortion clinic with signs depicting aborted fetuses, but the arrests actually were motivated by complaints about the protest's subject matter and content of the posters.

The suit called the permit ordinance "unconstitutional."

"Defendants invoked the permit ordinance in order to intimidate and chill plaintiffs from exercise of their constitutional rights set forth herein. On it's face, the permit ordinance is not narrowly tailored to achieve a lawful purpose ... [and] vests unconstitutional discretion in the city's manager to withhold issuance of a permit," the complaint said.

The lawsuit also deals with other complaints, such as the reason for arrest and alleged withholding of rights while in police custody. The disorderly conduct charges against the men were dropped by a Little Rock Circuit Court judge.

The city has denied the allegations and said in a response to the complaint that the men were informed repeatedly that they could continue their protest without a permit, but they could not use a loud horn if it disturbed area businesses.

The Little Rock Board of Directors will consider Carpenter's amendment to the ordinance at a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall.

City Manager Bruce Moore said he was comfortable with the number of participants that trigger a permit being set at 20. The Police Department also has given its approval of the number.

"We found several [court] cases that upheld a minimum of 20 people," Carpenter said.

Metro on 02/28/2015