Columbia, SC (WLTX, AP) - A federal judge has ruled that Occupy Columbia can stay at the State House overnight, at least until new rules can be put in place.
Judge Cameron Currie issued the ruling in favor of the protesters Wednesday afternoon.
Several members of the group sued Governor Nikki Haley and other state officials for their November 16 arrest at the State House. Haley had said hours before the arrests that the group had to leave because they were damaging the grounds of the capitol complex.
The group argued they violated no laws, and that the removal was unconstitutional because it violated their First Amendment right to free speech.
"This is exactly what we were anticipating, hoping to get and we got it," said Walid Hakim, who was arrested at the Statehouse.
Currie said the laws citing by government officials did not clearly address tents and sleeping bags. But Currie says lawmakers could write legal restrictions to prevent or regulate such activity.
"They had unwritten policies that they were trying to enforce and we took the position that they couldn't do that," said Reynolds Blankenship, an attorney for Occupy Columbia.
Currie noted the Budget and Control Board told a federal court in 1989 that it was working on such rules, but never implemented them.
"The key holding from the court today is that camping and and sleeping at the statehouse can be restricted, and what we'll see and of course that's what the governor said from the beginning and throughout and what we'll see thought that take place in very short order,"said Kevin Hall, attorney for Gov. Haley.
Haley's lawyer said afterward that an appeal hasn't been ruled out.
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