You can’t ban political signs. Manlius, New York, is about to discover that and pay some hefty legal fees for the lesson.
The trouble started back in 2006, when town officials asked Rubin to remove some signs from his lawn.
Rubin, who by the way teaches First Amendment law, cited Ladue v. Gilleo, a 1994 case which held that a ritzy suburb of St. Louis did not have the “compelling” interest required for a very broad ban on private property signage.
The law against free speech in Manlius allows private property owners to display campaign signs up to 30 days before an election (and for seven days after an election). The law also requires property owners to obtain a permit for their yard signs.
“Oh, I’ve got to get a form. I’ve got to fill it out. I’ve got to take it down to the town hall. I’ve got to wait; they are going to go through it,” Rubin told WSYR. “Why should I have to do all this?”
The regulation exists “in order to preserve aesthetics and ensure traffic safety,” according to the town code.
It’s basic constitutional law, yet every other year people complain (accurately) that the damn things are a blight on the landscape. We can’t ban them nor, I think, should we, because they offer a chance to give the dullest of our wannabe politicians something useless to do. I have it on good authority, for instance, that Dollar Bill would be an absolute pain-in-the-ass if he hung around Democrat headquarters, and without a job for him to do outdoors, the party would disintegrate into chaos.
It’s the price we pay for freedom. Sort of like shutting up when a guy strolls by with a pistol on his hip exercising his Second Amendment rights; get over it.