Constitutional Law

Federal judge: N.C. man can use home to protest town's actions

By By The Associated Press

CARY, N.C. ? A federal judge says a local sign ordinance can't limit the sign that a North Carolina man painted on his home out of anger at town leaders.

U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan said yesterday that David Bowden can keep the crude message painted on the front of his Cary home in large, orange letters. Flanagan ruled in Bowden v. Town of Cary that enforcing Cary's sign ordinance would violate Bowden's free-speech rights.

Flanagan said the sign ordinance ?is a content based restriction on speech that is invalid under the First Amendment as applied? and granted Bowden a permanent injunction.

Bowden had the sign painted on the front of his home last year after it was damaged by runoff that he blames on town road construction.

The town's attorney argued that the sign expressing Bowden's view of being "Screwed by the town of Cary" violated parts of the ordinance concerning aesthetics and traffic safety.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on December 07, 2010 (boomark / email).