FC: Supreme Court upholds right to anonymous speech, moreorless

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 14:59:45 -0400
From: "Paul Levy" <PLEVY () citizen org>
To: <declan () well com>
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
/




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