On June 26, the Green Parties of Iowa and Wisconsin jointly filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Davenport, Iowa. The issue is the city’s policy of banning petitioning at its annual street fair, the Bix Street Fest. The ACLU is representing the parties. The case is Bussiere v Davenport, southern district, 3:09-cv-101.

The incident that prompted the lawsuit arose last year, when Green Party volunteers were collecting signatures in Davenport to get Cynthia McKinney on the ballot. The city believes that the organization that sponsors the street festival has a right to curtail First Amendment activity on public streets during that festival. The city lost a similar case in 1999 over the same issue.