Charitable collection bins are a form of speech protected by First Amendment, appeals court says
A Michigan town’s ban on unattended charitable collection bins likely violates the First Amendment, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a challenge by Planet Aid, which collects clothing and shoes, and distributes the items in other countries. The Detroit News has the story, and How Appealing links to the decision (PDF).
The decision upholds a preliminary injunction that enjoined enforcement of the law passed last year in St. Johns, a town in central Michigan. Before adopting the ban on bins, city council members were told a grandfather clause in the bill exempted the Lyons Club Recycling Center from any new regulation.
The city had removed Planet Aid’s two charitable bins about a year before the law passed after telling the group that the bins had created a nuisance. Planet Aid claimed a First Amendment violation.
The appeals court said the collection bins amount to speech, citing a finding by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the bins “are not mere collection points for unwanted items, but are rather silent solicitors and advocates for particular charitable causes.”
The speech was content-based, the 6th Circuit said, because it does not ban all unattended, outdoor receptacles—only those with a charitable giving message.
