NEW ORLEANS— This afternoon a federal court granted a partial temporary restraining order in response to an ACLU lawsuit over the City's Superbowl "Clean Zone." The order reduces the effective area of the Clean Zone's noncommercial speech restrictions to the public areas immediately around the Superdome and New Orleans Arena. The order essentially frees up the right of individuals to carry signs, flags and other previously prohibited media throughout the French Quarter, Marigny and the rest of the CBD. The new, smaller boundaries of the noncommercial speech restrictions are as follows:
"The area bounded by Earhart Boulevard to Loyola Avenue; Loyola Avenue to Tulane Avenue; Tulane Avenue to North Broad; and North Broad to Earhart Boulevard; and including the Louisiana Superdome Property (Champion Square), and the New Orleans Arena."
The Court set a conference for Monday, January 28th to discuss the case with counsel.
ACLU Executive Director Marjorie Esman said, "This is a great preliminary victory for our clients, who feel that the Clean Zone restrictions extend much too far and prohibit too many activities. We look forward to addressing the rest of the issues at Monday's conference."