Begging for Justice

[XLFD]

Few people like to be accosted by beggars, but should panhandlers  be arrested and jailed for asking for some spare change?  And where does the line get drawn?  Are Public TV Stations and public officials applying for every grant in the book to be affected?  Here is a victory for beggars in Michigan and perhaps all over, and a victory for the First Amendment.  And another loss for the very disappointing Michigan AG Bill Schuette, who goes after beggars and defends the wealthy and public officials that misbehave.

<--- James Speet filed a federal lawsuit after his arrest for panhandling in Grand Rapids.

 

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday, Aug. 14, affirmed that a state law criminalizing peaceful panhandling is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids earlier ruled that the law violated the First Amendment.

“This decision reaffirms the principle that our Constitution applies equally to everyone, whether poor or rich,” said Miriam Aukerman, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney.

“Jail time is a harsh price to pay for holding up a sign or simply asking for spare change.”

ACLU of Michigan contended that “the state’s anti-begging law is unconstitutional because peaceful panhandling – like requests for charity by nonprofits, sport teams, or the Salvation Army -- is protected speech under the First Amendment.”

Related: Peaceful begging is protected speech, federal judge in Grand Rapids...

State Attorney General Bill Schuette appealed Jonker’s ruling that the state law violated the First Amendment. The city and state had concerns about safety, pedestrian and vehicle traffic, protection of businesses and tourism, as well as fraud.

The appellate court determined that begging is a form of solicitation protected by the First Amendment. The anti-begging law is invalid “because it prohibits a substantial amount of solicitation, an activity that the First Amendment protects, but allows other solicitation based on content,” Justice Boyce Martin Jr. wrote in a 17-page rulilng.

The ACLU said Grand Rapids enforced the state law 399 times between Jan. 1, 2008, and May 24, 2011.

James Speet and Ernest Sims were among those arrested. They filed the original lawsuit. Speet held a sign, while Sims asked for spare change.

Jonker, whose ruling was upheld, said earlier: “Begging plainly conveys a message: it communicates, whether verbally or non-verbally, a request for financial or material assistance.

“A beggar’s message is analogous to other charitable solicitation: in both situations, the speaker is soliciting financial assistance, the beggar for him or herself, and the charitable fund-raiser for a third party. Courts have held repeatedly that charitable solicitations are a form of protected speech.”

The appeals court said it has long held that the First Amendment protects charitable solicitation.

“Thus, the First Amendment protects charitable solicitation performed by organizations,” the appeals court said.

“But does the First Amendment protect the solicitation of alms when performed by an individual not affiliated with a group? We hold that it does.”

Other circuits have also held that begging is a form of solicitation protected by the First Amendment.

The appeals court said that striking down the law was “appropriate because the risk exists, that, if left on the books, the statute would chill a substantial amount of activity protected by the First Amendment.”

It noted that Grand Rapids police produced 409 incident reports related to begging.  Thirty-eight percent of those stopped by police were holding signs, requesting help, with messages such as “Homeless and Hungry: Need Work.”

The others involved verbal solicitations. In 43 percent of those cases, police immediately arrested beggars.

In 211 cases, those convicted were sentenced directly to jail time.

The state argued that it has an interest in preventing fraud. Schuette said not all who beg are “homeless and destitute,” or use the funds to meet basic needs. Rather, they often spend money on alcohol.

The state provided an affidavit from an executive director of a local agency that works with the homeless who wrote that “the great majority of people panhandling for money are using the money for alcohol and drugs.”

They also display signs saying they’re homeless when they’re not. “We agree with Attorney General Schuette that the prevention of fraud and duress are substantial state interests,” the appeals court said.

But, “Michigan’s interest in preventing fraud can be better served by a statute that, instead of directly prohibiting begging, is more narrowly tailored to the specific conduct, such as fraud, that Michigan seeks to prohibit.”

The appeals court said the state could regulate begging.

“As the Supreme Court has said, ‘Soliciting financial support is undoubtedly subject to reasonable regualation.’ But Michigan must regulate begging ‘with due regard for the reality that solicitation is characteristically intertwined with informative and perhaps persuasive speech seeking support for particular causes or for particular views on economic, political or social issues.’”

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/08/michigans_...

MORE INFO: 

 

The City of Grand Rapids actively enforced State law strictly by applying MCL 750.167(1)(h): "A person is a disorderly person if the person is found begging in a public place.", the penalty being a misdemeanor as declared in MCL 750.168.  The ACLU's original legal complaint based on the First and Fourteenth (Equal Protection) Amendments is presented here, here is the lower court's decision, and here is the  

Court of Appeal's ruling just made in full.

The Plaintiffs: 

James Speet receives food stamps, and also collects bottles, cans and scrap metal to survive. Speet has often sought and found odd jobs by holding up a sign in public that read “Need Job, God Bless.” Speet, who was prosecuted multiple times under the unconstitutional state law, was arrested in July 2011 for holding up the sign in Grand Rapids.

“I see people holding up signs throughout the city advertising restaurants or protesting and they didn’t get arrested or ticketed,” said Speet. “I don’t understand why my sign was any different just because I’m homeless and looking for a job.”

Ernest Sims is a veteran who relies on a $260 disability assistance check and food stamps for survival. When unable to afford his expenses, he asked people for “spare change to help a veteran” on the public streets of Grand Rapids. On July 4, 2011, a Grand Rapids police officer arrested Sims, who was asking for change for bus fare. Sims pleaded guilty and was sentenced to $100 or two days in jail.

[Willy]

I agree with the court on this. People have been begging for thousands of years. Every time I go to a large city there are people on the corners with signs. If people are bothered by them they can simply ignore them. The problem I have is with the people who walk up to a car stopped at a light to ask for money. That annoys me to no end and I'm sure they scare a lot of women drivers because some of these people look like they stepped out of a zombie movie. If someone stays on the curb and begs then as far as I'm concerned that's their right. Once they step off the curb and approach a vehicle they become a threat a nuisance and a traffic hazard. 

[XLFD]

That's why few people would object to making ordinances that regulate unsafe forms of 'begging' as you describe with appropriate punishments, instead of invoking a state misdemeanor that includes constitutionally protected activity.  One hopes that the state legislators can modify their own laws to reflect this ruling, and allow our Attorney General some time to focus on important things instead of an appeal of this to the Supreme Court.

[Dave]

I'm pretty much in the same frame of mind as you 2.... if the person asking for money is simply standing on a corner with a sign or sitting on a sidewalk with a sign, fine, no problem there, if a person wants to donate to his cause then more power to them. When its a person coming up you on the sidewalk or approaching your vehicle, hounding you for some money then no, that shouldn't be considered legal or constitutional. Course there are a small minority of people that actually panhandle as a job... they are able to make money doing it, apparently more so then doing a real job.

[Lisa O'Brien]

Personally I have no problem with someone holding a sign asking for help, heck I don't even care if they come up to me and ask while I'm out and about. But if they make it illegal for them to ask for money - then every time the volunteer fire department comes to my door asking for donations I'm calling the cops on them. I hate when I'm trying to relax on weekends and I have window/siding/roofing salesmen come to my door and then the volunteer fire department driving the fire truck through the neighborhood and going door to door asking for money - I feel like telling the quit wasting the gas and maybe they wouldn't need to go door to door.

[XLFD]

When/If MI AG Bill Schuette runs for office again and goes around pandering for your vote, or shows up at your door asking to plant one of his signs in your front yard, let's see whether we can have him locked up.  Look here at what I found; he is asking for contributions (begging) during his run for office, the bare-faced hypocrite:

[Lisa O'Brien]

That is priceless XLFD - he is a hypocrite.