United States First Circuit

The district court's denial of a preliminary injunction against enforcing two city ordinances prohibiting coercive or risky behavior by panhandlers, other solicitors, and demonstrators seeking the attention of motor vehicle drivers, is affirmed, where: 1) the district court was correct in finding that the restrictions were not based on the content of the speech within the terms of First Amendment doctrine so the ordinances are therefore subject to scrutiny as content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations; 2) plaintiffs have failed to make the prima facie showing necessary to trigger the government's burden of proving that the ordinances survive intermediate scrutiny; 3) plaintiffs have provided no evidence suggesting a discriminatory pattern in defendant-city's enforcement of either ordinance; and 4) plaintiffs' due process claims fail.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/19/2014
• Published 06/19/2014

Judges

• SOUTER

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel