Supreme Judicial Court rules law banning panhandling violates First Amendment rights of homeless people
By John R. Ellement Globe Staff,Updated December 15, 2020, 4:14 p.m.
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A panhandler along a stretch of Massachusetts Avenue in Boston in 2016.Keith Bedford/Globe Staff
The First Amendment rights of homeless people were violated by a state law that made it a crime to flag down passing motorists to ask for cash, the stateâs highest court ruled unanimously Tuesday.
The Supreme Judicial Court said the law, enacted in 1930, singled out and banned panhandling homeless people from public streets, while it exempted people from criminal charges if they were flagging down motorists to sell newspapers or roses.
After Fall River arrests, anti-panhandling law ruled unconstitutional by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Updated Dec 15, 2020;
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision Tuesday deeming a state statute banning panhandling unconstitutional, ruling that homeless people can ask for donations on public roads just like anyone else.
In a 23-page decision authored by Justice Barbara Lenk, the SJC states the statute infringed upon the individuals’ First Amendment rights. Lenk called the law both overly broad and “underinclusive”, targeting protected speech while failing to target activities that could affect traffic safety.
“There can be little doubt that signaling to, stopping, or accosting motor vehicles for the purpose of soliciting donations on one’s own behalf poses no greater threat to traffic safety than engaging in the same conduct for other non-prohibited or exempted purposes, such as gathering signatures for a petition, flagging down a taxicab, s