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douglas9

(4,473 posts)
Wed Mar 15, 2023, 07:42 AM Mar 2023

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES THAT ALABAMA LAWS CRIMINALIZING HOMELESSNESS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of Alabama statutes that criminalize soliciting donations and begging, ruling that the laws violate the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.

“We are pleased that the court chose to permanently enjoin the state’s solicitation statutes,” said Micah West, senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Economic Justice Project. “Criminalizing people for asking for help further disenfranchises those who are already facing economic hardship. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment covers ‘charitable appeals for funds.’”

In 2019, the city of Montgomery enacted an ordinance imposing additional penalties on solicitation of donations, including mandatory jail time. Although the city ultimately repealed the ordinance after the SPLC, clergy, unhoused people and other advocates organized in opposition to the law, the city continued to enforce two state statutes that also criminalized the solicitation of donations.

https://www.splcenter.org/news/2023/03/14/alabama-law-solicitation-donation-unconstitutional

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FEDERAL JUDGE RULES THAT ALABAMA LAWS CRIMINALIZING HOMELESSNESS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL (Original Post) douglas9 Mar 2023 OP
there rly needs to be some kind of sanctions mopinko Mar 2023 #1
Well yeah, but the christofascists have the ecclesastical justices on the SC, they are feeling Thomas Hurt Mar 2023 #2
it should have ended decades ago. so many careers mopinko Mar 2023 #3
When the self-righteousness bug hits, it usually hits hard. jaxexpat Mar 2023 #4
THIS a 1000x over! n/t slightlv Mar 2023 #5
George W. Bush appointed judge. onenote Mar 2023 #6
Doesn't TFG solicit funds all the time? broiles Mar 2023 #7

mopinko

(71,597 posts)
1. there rly needs to be some kind of sanctions
Wed Mar 15, 2023, 08:07 AM
Mar 2023

on judges who allow these laws to stand. this has been up to the court in the past. it’s clear af.

Thomas Hurt

(13,925 posts)
2. Well yeah, but the christofascists have the ecclesastical justices on the SC, they are feeling
Wed Mar 15, 2023, 08:34 AM
Mar 2023

like they can impose ideological and religious tenets, the Constitution be damned.

They want their christofascist theocracy.

mopinko

(71,597 posts)
3. it should have ended decades ago. so many careers
Wed Mar 15, 2023, 08:37 AM
Mar 2023

made by chipping away at roe. and hitting it head on, again and again.
but failing to defend the 1st amendment…

jaxexpat

(7,630 posts)
4. When the self-righteousness bug hits, it usually hits hard.
Wed Mar 15, 2023, 09:16 AM
Mar 2023

It ultimately ends with the public exposure of fraud and petty ambitions, making lots of folks ashamed and in denial.

The pendulum swings. It would swing more efficiently without the electoral college.

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