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Breasts are not genitalia, and drivers don't gawk at the word "love" ? a First Amendment problem.

By Ann Althouse

Remember Ed (Gonzo) Stross, the artist who painted a Michelangelo-style Eve on an outdoor mural and got sentenced to 30 days in jail for depicting Eve's bare breasts? With the help of the ACLU, he won with a First Amendment argument.

I've read the opinion in Lexis, and I see the court ? an intermediate appellate court in Michigan ? agrees with me that the breasts Stross painted didn't violate the restrictions in the city's variance, because breasts are not "genitalia," but that he did transgress by painting the word "love." Nevertheless, the court held that the restriction on lettering was too broad in relation to the city's interest in not distracting drivers. So the breasts might distract you, but the city failed to proscribe them, and the word "love" ? well, wouldn't it be funny if drivers collided as they rubbernecked to look at "love"?

Full post as published by Althouse on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).