Muzzling the Joneses

[Woodmonkey]

It has long been a staple of small-town and suburban life for neighbors to complain about each other’s lawns, or the colors of their houses, or their teenage children’s taste in music. Generally, it remains a back-fence dispute, not a matter for the local constabulary.

In recent years, however, a growing number of towns and counties have passed laws trying to ban residents from placing political signs on their lawns — signs promoting political candidates or, say, expressing opposition to the war in Iraq.

Some local officials say the bans stem from complaints that the signs are an eyesore, but what they really are is an infringement of free speech, and more and more angry citizens are going to court to defend their constitutional rights. Some civil libertarians hope that a recent lawsuit in the northern New Jersey town of Hawthorne will shift the momentum their way.

Several years ago, Hawthorne’s council approved an ordinance allowing homeowners only a tiny amount of time to display signs — a month before an election and a week after. When a local businessman left two signs on his property supporting Ron Paul well after the New Jersey presidential primary last winter, he was paid a personal visit by a police captain and two other officers and threatened with fines of $1,000 a day unless he removed the signs. He did.

It was a particularly ham-handed way to enforce a local ordinance, and last month, the A.C.L.U. filed suit. Officials agreed not to enforce the ban and at least one of the signs has reappeared. But the town has yet to repeal the ordinance or acknowledge that it violates the Constitution, so the A.C.L.U. is pursuing the case.

It should. Other New Jersey towns have approved similar ordinances and court challenges have been filed against bans in California, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia. No one knows how many local bans have never reached the courts.

Officials justify the restrictions by saying the signs are messy and clutter up the neighborhood. Democracy is messy. It tends to clutter up the neighborhood — with things like newspapers and political rallies and voting booths and churches and, yes, signs.

The Source