Arkansas judge strikes down city's panhandling ordinance

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—A federal judge has struck down another effort to restrict panhandling in Arkansas, citing concerns that a city's ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson on Monday imposed a permanent injunction on a 2017 ordinance in Hot Springs that outlaws physical interactions between pedestrians and people in vehicles, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The ordinance violates the First Amendment by regulating speech based on content, Dawson said.

Laws that limit speech because of the message "pose the inherent risk that the government seeks not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to suppress unpopular ideas or information," Dawson said.

The city argued that the ordinance doesn't target speech, since it prohibits people from interacting with vehicles and pedestrians in a way that creates safety concerns, regardless of their words.

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2019/apr/03/arkansas-judge-strikes-down-citys-panhandling-ordinance/772571/