Thursday, 02 May 2013 04:27
KKK wages first amendment battle in Desloge, MO...again
The Ku Klux Klan is challenging a new Desloge, Missouri ordinance that bans them from distributing flyers in city streets.
A judge has already struck down a city wide ban on distributing leaflets that the Klan had fought with the help of the ACLU. Tony Rothert, legal director for the ACLU's Eastern District of Missouri says the Supreme Court has long held that handing out leaflets is protected by the First Amendment.
Rothert says that neither he, nor the ACLU agrees with the KKK`s message, just their right to share it. "We think it’s important for all Americans that they be able to distribute literature to get their ideas out in peaceful ways and let the market place of ideas debate who’s right,” he said.
Rother has suggested the that the city's new ordinance is an attempt to get around the earlier judges ruling.
Desloge city administrator Greg Camp says that's not true. Camp says, it's never been a question of First Amendment rights. "Regardless of the message, we have to respect the fact that everyone has the right to free speech," he said. "The concern is for people being in the road."
Camp says the city consulted with an attorney before crafting the new measure, and they believe it will hold up in court.
The city has until Monday (May 6th) to respond to the ACLU's new complaint.
Desloge is about 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Published in
Local News
Latest News
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
STUDY QUESTIONS KIDNEY CANCER TREATMENT IN ELDERLY
In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely t...
FDA WANTS CANCER WARNINGS ON TANNING BEDS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Indoor tanning beds would come with new warnings about the risk of cancer and be subject to more stringent federal oversight under a proposal unveiled Monday by ...
WOMAN WHO SMOKED THROUGH HOLE IN THROAT DIES
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A woman who smoked a cigarette through a hole in her throat to illustrate her struggle with nicotine addiction in a California public service advertisement has ...
NYC APPEALS RULING STRIKING DOWN SODA SIZE LIMIT
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City is asking appeals judges to reinstate a ban on supersized sodas and other sugary drinks, which was struck down by a Manhattan judge the day before it...
WOMEN HAVE NEW OPTIONS FOR BREAST CANCER SURGERY
CHICAGO (AP) -- Treating breast cancer almost always involves surgery, and for years the choice was just having the lump or the whole breast removed. Now, new approaches are dramat...
COURT: CAN HUMAN GENES BE PATENTED?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- DNA may be the building block of life, but can something taken from it also be the building block of a multimillion-dollar medical monopoly? The Supreme Court...
Dick Van Dyke health mystery - he asks public for help …
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Van Dyke is seeing doctors for an undiagnosed health problem, and he's seeking advice online as well. "My head bangs every time I lay down," the 87-year...
US SUICIDE RATE ROSE SHARPLY AMONG MIDDLE-AGED
NEW YORK (AP) -- The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the governme...
