[ OUR OPINION ]
Court protects freedom
to go door-to-doorSINCE the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to bans on house-to-house peddling more than a half century ago, various towns and cities have busily adopted such ordinances. The high court's ruling yesterday protecting the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to go door-to-door was a reminder that limitations short of outright prohibitions are risky. Honolulu has been wise to avoid such restrictions.
THE ISSUE The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution protects people who take their causes door-to-door.
Door-to-door sales people in Honolulu were criticized last year for selling $2,000 vacuum cleaners in recent years to elderly people with wood floors. State law regulates such door-to-door sales of merchandise, but rights to free speech and religion should continue to be protected.
The restrictive ordinance at issue was enacted in the small town of Stratton, Ohio, to protect elderly residents against irritating sales people. The town council required that anybody who wanted to go door-to-door first had to obtain a permit from the mayor's office. It then came up with a list of 19 examples of potential door knockers that residents could post in their front yards, specifically checking those to be exempt from their general unwelcome instructions. The list ranged from scouting organizations, volunteer firefighters and Christmas carolers to "campaigners" and Jehovah's Witnesses, along with "persons affiliated with Stratton Church."
Jehovah's Witnesses has battled for decades for its First Amendment protection, allowing its members to follow the example of the disciple Paul in teaching their religion "publicly and from house to house." Many people are irritated by their solicitations, but the same is true of an array of communication conveyed by an assortment of methods.
If the town of Stratton had limited its restrictions to sales people or fund-raisers, the high court probably would have allowed its ordinance to stand. However, the inclusion of religious proselyters and political campaigners in its list of potential banned organizations encroached on the right of free speech.
"It is offensive, not only to the values protected by the First Amendment, but to the very notion of a free society, that in the context of everyday public discourse a citizen must first inform the government of her desire to speak to her neighbors and then obtain a permit to do so," Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the majority opinion.
In a supplemental brief in the case, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has many door-to-door missionaries, raised concerns about "a dramatic surge in the number and severity of anti-solicitation laws that are being applied to religious proselyting." The court ruling should counter such a movement toward intolerance.
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