Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pittsburgh Ban on Leaflets Crumples

By Brian Bowling, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Pittsburgh's interest in reducing litter and preventing people from leaving paper on cars doesn't outweigh the First Amendment rights of those who want to hand out leaflets, a federal judge said Wednesday in an order that blocks the city from enforcing an anti-leafleting ordinance.

Kathleen A. Ramsey and Albert A. Brunn filed a lawsuit before the November general election claiming a city ordinance banning the placement of literature on parked cars is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone issued a temporary restraining order in October so Ramsey and Brunn could distribute leaflets before the election. His decision yesterday will keep the city from enforcing its anti-leafleting law until the lawsuit is resolved.

The judge said he was issuing the order because the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their challenge, and allowing the city to enforce the law during the lawsuit would irreparably harm their constitutional rights.

While the city demonstrated at a November hearing that leaflets significantly add to Pittsburgh's litter, the inconvenience of litter or the irritation car owners feel when they see leaflets stuck under their windshield wipers doesn't overcome the plaintiffs' right to free speech, he said.

Ed White, an attorney for the American Center for Law & Justice, an organization founded by evangelical preacher Pat Robertson, said at the hearing that the city goes too far in trying to solve a minor litter problem. The leaflets aren't even the largest category of litter on the streets, he argued.

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