--- Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 14:59:45 -0400 From: "Paul Levy" <PLEVYat_private> To: <declanat_private> Subject: Right to Anonymous and unlicensed speech prevails in Watchtower case Wanted to be sure you knew that the Supreme Court has upheld the complaint of the Jehovah's Witnesses against an Ohio municipal ordinance that required persons who want to go canvassing door-to-door to register with the mayor and then refrain from going to the doors of any persons who have not expressed their willingness to receive such communications. A very good majority opinion by Justice Stevens rejects the proposition that acquisition of a permit can be made the precondition for engaging in door-to-door speech, for several reasons - - it trenches on the right to speak anonymously (that is to say, one is not anonymous from the person with whom one speaks person-to-person, but one IS anonymous from the authorities), it prevents spontaneous speech, and it is likely to discourage speech by persons who object in principle to a rule requiring registration. And, the attempt to justify the ordinance as a way to prevent criminal conduct by persons who approach their victims in the guise of door-to-door canvassers was rejected as baseless. Because the Court was careful to distinguish commercial from non-commercial speech, the decision may not impede legislation against UCBE, but attempts to require the identification of non-commercial speakers will face significant hurdles in light of this decision. The decision is available on the Cornell University web site at http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-1737.ZD.html Paul Alan Levy Public Citizen Litigation Group 1600 - 20th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 588-1000 http://www.citizen.org/litigation/litigation.html / ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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