9th Circuit Says Arresting People For "Fuck The Cops" Chalk Writing Is Unconstitutional Retaliation

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Ninth Circuit Says Arresting People For ‘Fuck The Cops’ Chalk Writing Is Unconstitutional Retaliation

Free Speech

from the CHALK-THE-POLICE! dept
Fri, Mar 25th 2022 09:42am - Tim Cushing

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And so we have this case — one that involves cops and words cops feel should be illegal if they’re used to refer to cops. And we have yet another rebuttal of this law enforcement-centric delusion that somehow still results in acts of retaliation against protected speech. (via Volokh Conspiracy)

The plaintiffs, members of a group, Sunshine Activist Collective (“associated with CopBlock”), chalked the sidewalk in front of the Las Vegas Metro PD. What was chalked was critical of the PD, mentioning officer-involved shootings and utilizing the phrases “Fuck the pigs” and “Fuck the cops.” ... Sergeant Mike Wallace confronted the activists, claiming chalking the sidewalk was unlawful. The plaintiffs refused to stop and informed Wallace that the act was actually not unlawful. Sgt. Wallace cited the plaintiffs for violating Nevada’s graffiti statute, which forbids the “placing” of “graffiti” on any property (public or private) “without permission of the owner.”

Fair enough. Except that this enforcement action was actually unfair. The Metro PD placed the unrepentant chalkers under surveillance, with a detective searching their social media profiles to discover further information. The only information that seemed pertinent to the detective was that the protesters were aligned with police accountability group, CopBlock. ... Five days later, the activists again chalked the same sidewalk in front of the Metro PD. Despite the city claiming it cost $300 to un-chalk the sidewalk, no officer cited the activists during this chalking, despite many officers passing by them as they wrote their messages.

The plaintiffs went to court on July 18, 2013 to contend the prosecution. But the city had already decided not to prosecute these alleged offenses. That didn’t stop the detective who had searched their social media accounts from issuing arrest warrants for both chalking incidents, including the one where no officer had bothered citing them. ... That led to this:

{snip}

[Budi]

1. Hate begats hate.

[dutch777]

2. Really interesting question of when is graffitti, or any art, free speech or not?

I think in this case the police really crossed the line given the whole story but in the broader perspective, at least on public property, there must be constitutional accommodation for free speech. I do think protection of private property is a clearer and separate issue unless the owner of said property is the one doing or allowing the "graffitti".