PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union (search) is defending six men who were arrested during one of President Bush's (search) visits to Pennsylvania because they stripped down to thong underwear and formed a human pyramid to protest the Abu Ghraib (search) prison scandal in Iraq.
The six were hauled away by police and charged with disorderly conduct on July 9, shortly after piling atop each other at the side of a road carrying Bush's motorcade in Lancaster County.
The men said they were trying to shame the president by re-creating an image of naked prisoners forced to assume a similar position by U.S. soldiers.
They weren't breaking any laws and should have been left alone, said Paula Knudsen, an ACLU attorney.
"The First Amendment protects many types of speech," she said. "What the defendants did in this case was clearly protected by the First Amendment, even though some people found it offensive."
The six are scheduled to go before a district justice on the charges Monday. They face a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $300 fine if convicted.
The Lancaster County prosecutor assigned to the case did not immediately return a phone call Thursday.
Knudsen said the men's clothing, while revealing, was no different than someone might wear at a beach, or what countless actors have worn on broadcast television.
The men performed the stunt near Smoketown, about 55 miles west of Philadelphia in Amish country.
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