Slidell pays ACLU $25,000 over defeated panhandling law

The city of Slidell will pay the ACLU $25,000 to cover the group's legal fees in connection with a lawsuit that challenged a city ordinance that sought to strictly regulate panhandlers, the ACLU said Tuesday (Sept. 19).

A federal judge in June had ruled that Slidell's panhandler licensing law was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Lance Africk said the ordinance was "substantially overbroad" and sought to prohibit protected speech that posed no threat to public safety. The city said a month later it would not appeal Africk's ruling.

The ACLU had sued the city on behalf of several panhandlers. Slidell's attorney, Lawrence Abbott, signed the settlement on Monday.

"Slidell's attempt to suppress free speech and criminalize poverty by punishing panhandlers was a clear violation of our clients' constitutional rights, which the court rightly struck down," Marjorie Esman, executive director of ACLU of Louisiana, said in a news release Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/northshore/index.ssf/2017/09/slidell_pays_aclu_25000_over_u.html