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Judge Schedules Status Conference in ACLU's Miami Artistic Censorship/Cuba
Ordinance Case
July 10, 2000
MIAMI ? U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno has scheduled a status conference for 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, July 11, in the ACLU's class action lawsuit challenging Miami-Dade County's Cuba Ordinance. The hearing on the lawsuit, which was filed by the ACLU on behalf of all Miami non-profit and for-profit arts and cultural organizations, has been called to assess the impact of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Miami-Dade County's Cuba Ordinance.
Judge Moreno had issued a preliminary injunction in May temporarily allowing arts organizations to submit applications for the County's International Cultural Exchange Grants without complying with most of the provisions of the Cuba Affidavit. He ruled that Plaintiffs may submit grant applications "by excising the offensive portions of the standard 'Cuba Affidavit' and submitting a modified affidavit." The federal court order also noted that "based on existing case law there is a substantial likelihood that the 'Cuba Affidavit' requirement will be found unconstitutional under the foreign affairs provisions, foreign commerce clause and supremacy clause" of the U.S. Constitution.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared unconstitutional a Massachusetts law restricting purchases from companies that do business with Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). The state adopted the restriction in 1996, after Myanmar's military regime was accused of drug trafficking, torture and slave labor. The Court said that the federal government has exclusive authority to set foreign policy and regulate foreign commerce.
"It is now time to formalize the removal of Miami-Dade County from the business of foreign policy and end the persistent censorship of the arts in South Florida," said Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida Executive Director.
