ACLU Files Suit Over Flier Ban

Sure, it’s not all literature.

But attorneys are ready to argue whether the cascade of dry-cleaning fliers, pizza coupons and free newspapers left on porches and doorknobs are junk or protected free speech.

Pasadena’s City Council declared them disposable earlier this year, outlawing the delivery of unsolicited fliers and papers to property owners who say they don’t want them.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and local community activists now say the so-called handbill ordinance, which was approved in June, violates the 1st Amendment.

ACLU attorneys filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against Pasadena, charging the new law violates the constitutional rights of activists--as well as businesses--who cannot afford more expensive ways of spreading their message.

“Passing out handbills has been part of the great history of American government,” said Stephen Rohde, an ACLU attorney. “Thomas Paine began a lot of his work by passing out pamphlets.”

While the ordinance does not ban handbills, Rohde said, it is burdensome because it requires door-to-door distributors to retrieve from City Hall a list of people who do not want to receive unsolicited materials.

He also said the law unfairly targets materials from private citizens but exempts government.

“If this ordinance had been in effect two years ago, when a group of us opposed the widening of a nearby residential street or, recently, when we objected to [the Long Beach Freeway extension] our voice would not have been heard,” said Lorna Moore, who distributes 15,000 pamphlets on the subjects and is one of four plaintiffs.

But council members say the nation’s forefathers never foresaw piles of fast-food door hangers cluttering pristine neighborhoods.

“This is about litter, not free speech,” said Councilman Paul Little, who proposed the ordinance. “This is not dictating what people can print and distribute. All we’re saying is these people don’t want to receive these materials.”

City officials say they crafted the law based on previous court decisions. Pasadena City Atty. Michele Bagneris said a small number of cities have similar laws.

But even before its passage in Pasadena, several attorneys warned the law was certain to face legal challenges.

The San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, owners of the Star, a free weekly newspaper, sued the city last month to overturn the law.

So far, few residents have taken advantage of the ban. About 48 of the city’s 53,000 households have requested they be excluded from unsolicited deliveries.

Violating the law is a misdemeanor. The distributor will be issued a warning, then a citation and fines between $100 and $300.

Subsequent violations can trigger fines as high as $1,000.