Wednesday, March 18, 2009



Illegal to display the First Amendment??



We read:
"A Florida couple won the initial round in a free-speech battle today, as a federal magistrate recommended the city of Clearwater not fine a local bait and tackle shop for displaying the First Amendment atop a mural of marine life on its business.

U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth Jenkins made the recommendation to a federal judge in the case of Herb and Lori Quintero, who faced fines of $500 per day for posting a giant Constitution as well as designs of game fish on their store, the Complete Angler.

"Neither the painting nor the banner are commercial speech," Jenkins stated, explaining the city would likely lose the full case in court. "Although the painting may occasionally inspire the purchase of bait and tackle from the Angler, the painting is not limited to merely proposing commercial transactions."

Citing a previous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Jenkins also noted, "the loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury."

Source

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the city of Clearwater, FloriDuh is so desperate for money, why don't they get rid of some of the elected and appointed useless crooks on their payroll?

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that magistrate has some sense.

Anonymous said...

if it was verses from the koran or a friend of barry there would have been no problem.

Anonymous said...

"If you want to solve the worlds problems, you must first start by killing all the lawyers". (ie: politicians)

William Shakespeare

Anonymous said...

It is actions like this, by public officials, that start revolutions. We're long overdue!