Civil Disobedience

Michael Badnarik, Libertarian candidate for president in the 2004 election, was arrested while trying to enter the 8 Oct presidential debates. A press release from the campaign gives details of the plan before it happened. An AP story broke the news.
According to the stories, aside from the arrest of the third party candidates, numerous students were harrassed by police when they inadvertedly crossed into a protective zone surrounding the building on the St. Louis campus. Badnarik's campaign has aptly dubbed the area the "No Free Speech Zone."

I applaud Badnarik (and also David Cobb, the Green Party candidate) for this small act of civil disobedience. If one reads the details of this incident, the level of resistance demonstrated by the Commission on Presidential Debates to third parties is unacceptable. Badnarik and another local candidate attempted to serve an "Order to Show Cause" to the CPD that day, but their attempts were resisted by security personnel.

I have yet to hear a valid or maningful argument on the legal basis for the exclusion of third parties in the presidential election process. Anyone care to fill me in?

Bryan