ST. LOUIS, MO — The city of Desloge cannot enforce its ban on the distribution of handbills. Members of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan—or anyone else, are free to pass out handbills in the City of Desloge. Today, United States Magistrate Judge Nannette A. Baker entered a preliminary injunction that the City of Desloge must not enforce the city ordinance that prohibits the distribution of leaflets on city streets.
“As the court recognizes, the Supreme Court has regularly held that streets and sidewalks must remain open to public expression,” said Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Foundation. “While it might be understandable that city officials don’t like this group’s message, the ACLU is committed to defending the free-speech rights of all, regardless of their message.”
“Broad ordinances restricting speech allow government officials to call for enforcement only when they disagree with a particular message,” says Tony Rothert, the ACLU-MO’s legal director. “In the United States, the government cannot pick and choose what should or should not be communicated. Any attempt to silence unpopular voices through legislation is an attack on the free speech rights we are all guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
The ACLU sued Desloge in 2012 over the constitutionality of a previous literature distribution ordinance. That ordinance was found unconstitutional earlier this year.