TRI In The News
City to Respect Artists' Freedoms
From One News Now
Original article available here
Ocean City, Maryland, has decided to respect the free-speech rights of a sidewalk performer and artist in what an attorney calls a "clear-cut victory for the First Amendment."
Mark Chase used the city's boardwalk to paint, sell his works, and do street performances. But John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute tells OneNewsNow his client ran into a problem.
"He was approached by the police in May 2011 and told that he shouldn't be doing this; there was an ordinance against people selling and doing things out on the boardwalk and that he couldn't do that," Whitehead explains. "He decided to challenge that, and so he showed up again in June."
But police approached him again, shut him down, and threatened to arrest him. The city council had passed a law that required performers to purchase permits to practice their art on the boardwalk, but Chase knew he had a free-speech right to do so. Consequently, The Institute filed suit.
"And now, a U.S. District Court judge has enjoined the city of Ocean City from enforcing restrictions on what they call 'the sale of expressive materials' by street performers such as Chase," the attorney reports. "So it's a really broad decision on behalf of the First Amendment."
Under terms of the settlement, artists will not have to obtain a permit for requesting or receiving tips for street performances, or for painting and selling their wares.
