2015-SC-000570 (February 16, 2017)
TO BE
PUBLISHED
–
Dennis
Champion was arrested for violating a Lexington-Fayette County Urban County
Government ordinance that sought to restrict panhandling; “No person shall beg
or solicit upon the public streets or at the intersection of said public
streets within the urban county area.” Despite cogent challenges to the
statute in the lower courts, it was not until the Kentucky Supreme Court
accepted discretionary review were Mr. Champion’s free speech rights
vindicated.
The Court held that the ordinance was unconstitutionally
overbroad after applying strict scrutiny review as the ordinance sought to
regulate the content of speech in public fora. The Chief Justice, writing
for the Court, eloquently held: “The true beauty of the First Amendment
is that it treats both Cicero and the vagabond as equals without prejudice to
their message. Freedom of speech does not exist for us to talk about the
weather; to accept this liberty is to welcome controversy and to embrace
discomfort.” The Supreme Court remanded the matter back to the Fayette
District Court with instructions to dismiss the charge.
Contributed
by Linda Horsman
