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Massachusetts High Court Says Nudity to Support Christmas Can Be Prosecuted

By Howard M. Friedman

In Commonwealth v. Ora, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., April 10, 2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court permitted a prosecution for "open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior" to proceed, reversing a trial court's holding that the law that bans public nudity is facially unconstitutional. The Massachusetts high court said: "Our decisional law has narrowed the application of G. L. c. 272, § 16, so that it does not impermissibly prohibit protected expressive conduct. We have held that the statute cannot be constitutionally applied to public displays of lewdness and nudity unless they are imposed upon an unsuspecting or unwilling audience.... and that conviction under the statute requires the display of nudity to be intentional, done in a manner to produce alarm or shock, and actually producing alarm or shock." The charge was brought against Ria Ora for dancing nude in Harvard Square as part of a June 25 annual protest against the commercialization of Christmas. A video of the oral arguments in the case as well as the briefs are available from the court's website. Friday's Boston Herald reports on the decision. [Thanks to Legal Blog Watch for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on April 14, 2008 (boomark / email).