Moss

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Plaintiff-Appellees, Michael Moss and others who opposed President Bush (“protestors” or “anti-Bush protestors”), organized a demonstration at a campaign stop in Jacksonville, Oregon. They contend that Secret Service agents, Defendant-Appellants Tim Wood and Rob Savage (“agents” or “Secret Service agents”), engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, by requiring the protestors to demonstrate at a distance from the President because they were protesting — rather than supporting— his policies. In addition, the protestors maintain that the police officers who carried out the Secret Service agents’ directions, supervised by Defendant-Appellants Ron Ruecker, Superintendent of the Oregon State Police, and Eric Rodriguez, Captain of the Southwest Regional Headquarters of the Oregon State Police (“police supervisors”), used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. They seek to hold Ruecker and Rodriguez liable for the use of this force.

We hold that the protestors have stated a claim against the Secret Service agents for violation of the First Amendment. The protestors have not,…