of course you can. just because it is illegal doesn't mean they don'y beleive it to be legal for their own purposes. admittedly the dialogue is dumb and it's a good example of why George shouldn't be allowed to write dialogue for scripts but cut it for the right reasons.
what the neimodians say regarding the blockade reinforces for the audience that they believe they're right and are therefore the bad guys. take the scene away and you also then have a knock on effect to the scene where they talk to amidala.