WACO, Texas – War protester Cindy Sheehan has dropped her lawsuit challenging county camping and parking bans near President Bush's Crawford ranch.
Fort Worth attorney David Broiles, who represents Sheehan's group, asked to withdraw the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Waco approved the request Monday.
Broiles originally filed the suit in Waco's federal court but withdrew it in August after Smith ruled the county's ordinances were constitutional and declined to issue an order to keep the county from enforcing the ordinances.
Later, Broiles filed a similar claim in state district court, but the county's attorney succeeded in getting the lawsuit transferred back to federal court because of the constitutional claims.
Broiles told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he recommended dropping the suit because two war protesters are appealing their recent conviction in a related case, and "we will get a resolution faster" by addressing the county bans in that appeal.
Last month a McLennan County jury convicted two protesters — one from Oklahoma, the other from Austin — on misdemeanor charges for obstructing a road near the president's ranch. They are appealing to Waco's 10th Court of Appeals.
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