Day laborers win Supreme Court free-speech case

Lenny Ignelzi / AP 2008

Day laborers gather on a San Diego sidewalk in 2008 waiting to be hired. Cities sought to ban such workers from standing on sidewalks while seeking jobs.

Day laborers in Western states including California scored a legal victory Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling declaring that cities violate free speech when they make it a crime to seek work from passing drivers.

The case comes from the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach and affects dozens of cities in California and other states that have passed or considered bans on asking for work from the sidewalk.

In the Bay Area, federal courts barred Mountain View and Los Altos from enforcing similar laws nearly a decade ago, said Thomas Saenz, general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which led the legal challenges. Many day laborers in California are Latino.

"Day laborers have a right to free speech, just as much as a wealthy corporation or a well-heeled political candidate," Saenz said. "The First Amendment protects everyone's speech, particularly on a sidewalk, where from the beginning of our country's history folks have engaged in free expression."

Lawyers for Redondo Beach argued that the city was regulating conduct, not speech.

"The city has a problem with day laborers congregating on sidewalks, causing cars to stop, creating traffic congestion," said attorney Roderick Walston.

Scott Howard, a lawyer for the League of California Cities, said the Supreme Court's rebuff will force many cities to put proposed ordinances on hold and leaves them with little guidance on their authority to "regulate solicitation on public rights-of-way."

The 1989 Redondo Beach ordinance prohibited anyone on a street or sidewalk from soliciting employment, business or contributions from motorists.

In its 9-2 ruling overturning the ordinance in September, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the law could apply to children's lemonade stands, sidewalk food vendors that advertise to passers-by, sign-carrying demonstrators seeking donations, or youngsters shouting "car wash," none of whom necessarily poses a traffic hazard.

"The ordinance restricts significantly more speech than is necessary" to promote the city's stated goal of traffic safety, Judge Milan Smith said in the majority opinion. He said cities have other safety options, like enforcing laws against jaywalking and obstructing traffic.

In dissent, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said the Constitution doesn't prevent government from making sure that "sidewalks are reserved for walking rather than loitering; streets are used as thoroughfares rather than open-air hiring halls; and bushes serve as adornment rather than latrines."

In seeking Supreme Court review, lawyers for Redondo Beach said the ruling conflicted with federal court decisions that have upheld day-labor-solicitation bans in other states. But Saenz said none of those laws prohibited asking for work from the sidewalk.

The case is Redondo Beach vs. Comite de Jornaleros, 11-760.

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

See original here:
Day laborers win Supreme Court free-speech case