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COLUMBIA (WACH, AP) -- Attorneys for Occupy Columbia protesters and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are scheduled to appear in federal court to determine whether the protesters can continue their around-the-clock demonstration on Statehouse grounds.

A hearing is set for Wednesday in Columbia before Judge Cameron McGowan Currie. Arguments are expected to take 90 minutes to two hours.

Seven of 19 protesters arrested Nov. 16 for trespassing sued Haley and public safety officials, arguing their First Amendment rights were trampled when they were arrested for demonstrating on public property.

Haley had said in a press conference earlier that day that the protesters damaged the Statehouse grounds and that she had gotten complaints about them urinating.

A circuit judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Occupy Columbia to resume its 24-hour protest without threat of arrest. An extension of that order ends Thursday evening.

The protesters contend in their suit that their weeks of protest have been peaceful and that Haley blames them for damage to Statehouse grounds because she doesn't agree with their message.

"The physical occupation and physical presence is a key component of the protesters' actual `occupation' of the State House grounds and, therefore, a key component of the Occupy protesters' political statement and petitioning conduct," attorneys for the protesters wrote in the lawsuit. "The reason why the Occupy protests are so controversial and uncomfortable for governmental officials to endure is that it is the most persuasive form of peaceful, nonviolent protest."

"Let's be clear. You have a group that lived on the grounds for 33 days, destroyed public property, used the Statehouse flower beds as a toilet, and now a judge says, `Forget the rules, forget their actions, and by the way bring your tent,"' Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for Haley said in a statement to WACH Fox News. "It's unacceptable, and we will fight it every step of the way."

Currie could decide to extend the order through the case's outcome, modify it, or let it expire.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)