STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY: You are not my lawyer, I am not your client, etc.
The Missouri Marijuana Legalization movement is collecting signatures for a petition to put a legalization initiative on the ballot for the November '18 elections. A petitioner was at the Somewhere County Fair, collecting signatures, when she was approached by county board chairman Buford Buzzkill. He told her she was not welcome on the property and threatened to call the law if she didn’t leave.
From where I sit, it’s pretty clear her First Amendment rights were violated, and she has a lawsuit. Especially if she got it all on video.
Legal 'Dopers, do you think she has a case?
For what it’s worth, she let the matter drop, after ranting about it on Facebook. Buford isn’t the first, and won’t be the last, hater to hassle petitioners.
Yes, I believe that a county fairgrounds—or at least the roadside just outside—would be recognized by a court as a traditional venue for activities protected by the First Amendment. But until you get to that point, which might require assistance from the ACLU, there’s months if not years of people, including police officers and jailers, “just doing my job.”
Are all pieces of public property equally covered by constitutional protections like this?
For example, many County Fairs charge admission. Would it be possible that the limited nature of admission, requiring payment and a ticket, might also contain some conditions on a person’s behavior and activities within the fairgrounds? Would such limitations be constitutional?
And would payment and a ticket be important, or would this work in some free spaces as well? Do you think, for example, that a signature collector could be prevented from working inside the National Art Gallery in Washington, D.C.?
I’m not asking these questions as gotchas. I don’t know the answer. But it’s my understanding that there are certain circumstances where private property owners have to respect free speech rights on their property, and i’m pretty sure i’ve seen cases where certain types of speech can be restricted on public property under certain circumstances.
I don’t know the answer but there is something wrong if petitioners have a right to be on private land (e.g. shopping center) even if the owner doesn’t want them there but do not have a right to be on public land doing the same.
Yes, only a limited number of states extend First Amendment rights as affirmative rights that can be asserted against private property owners. This page has a nice essay tracing the legal history of the issue, and it notes Michigan (the OP’s state) as one that has, based on actual court cases, “declined to extend any right of free expression to privately owned property.”
Note that the essay was last updated in 2006, so any decisions since then would not be reflected in their analysis.
IMO it’s not entirely clear that her First Amendment rights were violated. An individual’s right to free speech is not without limits, and the government may place restrictions on speech depending on the type of forum the speech occurs in. County fairgrounds are considered limited use public forums, and the government may restrict speech as long as the restrictions are reasonable in light of the purpose of the forum. In contrast, the right to free speech is “stronger” in traditional public forums, such as parks, and the government must meet strict scrutiny to place subject matter restrictions. The issue then is whether Buford Buzzkill’s decision was reasonable and viewpoint neutral.
Nearly every county fair I know of offers booth space for rent on their grounds during the fair. So just rent a space from the fair, and they’ll let you collect all the signatures you want.
But if you are admitted as a visitor or spectator to the fairgrounds, and then start accosting other spectators and asking them for their signature – then, yes, you’re going to get thrown out. You are violating the conditions of your admission, and competing with the groups who have rented booth space to promote their views or products.
Now if you tried to rent booth space from the fair, and they refused because they didn’t approve of your message, then you would have a legitimate first amendment case.
(Assuming that the county fair is part of the ‘government’. Here in Minnesota, they aren’t – they are independent non-profit associations, often with stockholders. Indeed, I happen to own a share of our local county fair association.)
As mentioned, speech can be restricted on public property. Try to stand up and give a speech in the middle of oral argument in the Supreme Court and you’ll be quickly escorted out. This is because courtrooms, like jails and military bases, are considered nonpublic forums, and the government can close all speech in such places. County fairgrounds are somewhere in between; the Supreme Court has explained that they are considered limited use public forums, in that they are places that the government has opened up for public use for a certain purpose.
IANAL … I think the constitutional question here is whether prohibiting petition signature gathering on fairgrounds property during the county fair is excessively onerous to the exercise of one’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances … I believe somewhere in all the annals of jurisprudence there’s very clear and precise tests that the courts would use to make the constitutional determination …
<joke> There’s “No Loitering” signs up in our local Free Speech Plaza now, too funny </joke>
In a practical sense, specific to this case, it’s the difference between the petitioner sitting at her table with her documents, and a sign that says “Come sing our petition to legalize marijuana” vs. accosting fairgoers and saying “Come over here to my table to sign!”
I don’t know which scenario took place in Somewhere County, since I wasn’t there. But the MMLM’s petitioner guidelines advise against pestering people, and instead tell petitioners to let signers come to them.
I feel like this is going to be the answer to the lawsuit (unless there was some unjust harassment of the petitioner, which is another matter).
I spent a weekend at our city fair this June, on city property, collecting signatures for my bid for city council. But I had to pay for my space and follow the rules set forth.
Now if you tried to rent booth space from the fair, and they refused because they didn’t approve of your message, then you would have a legitimate first amendment case.
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Hypothetically, do you think the county has any power to refuse any groups from renting booth space? What if the group seeks to promote an act that is currently illegal? Say, for example, someone who wishes to change the laws to legalize child pornography?