{"id":457,"date":"2013-11-01T17:09:17","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T22:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/?p=457"},"modified":"2017-11-20T20:27:50","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T01:27:50","slug":"aclu-local-gop-group-team-up-to-fight-campaign-sign-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.law.duq.edu\/juris\/2013\/11\/01\/aclu-local-gop-group-team-up-to-fight-campaign-sign-ordinance\/","title":{"rendered":"ACLU, Local GOP Group Team Up to Fight Campaign Sign Ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ACLU<\/a>by: Lauren Gailey, Associate Editor<\/p>\n

When reports began to emerge last week that the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s Greater Pittsburgh Chapter rushed to the defense of a local political group alleging that selective enforcement of a campaign sign ordinance was hurting its candidates, few were surprised.\u00a0 After all, the ACLU is well known for its efforts to combat voter ID laws, secure LGBT rights, and promote immigration reform.\u00a0 What surprised many, however\u2014and made headlines as far away as San Francisco\u2014was that it was the Republican<\/i> party that had enlisted the ACLU\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

The Republican Committee of Robinson Township filed a complaint with the ACLU in September.\u00a0 The Committee claimed that the township was selectively enforcing Chapter 26 of Robinson Township\u2019s Ordinances, which regulates political signs, by removing the campaign signs of Republican candidates for the township\u2019s board of commissioners from public rights of way but allowing other signs to remain in place.<\/p>\n

In an October 23 letter to Robinson Township officials, ACLU Legal Director Witold Walczak and Staff Attorney Sara Rose contended that \u201cwhile the ordinance purports to ban all political signs on public property . . . the Township\u2019s practice has been otherwise.\u201d\u00a0 Republican Committee members noted when collecting their confiscated signs that only Republican signs had been confiscated, and the ACLU claimed to have photographs showing that campaign signs, many promoting judicial candidates, and commercial advertising signs continued to be displayed on public property.<\/p>\n

The letter argued that \u201c[s]uch uneven enforcement represents viewpoint censorship, making [Chapter 26] presumptively unconstitutional\u201d under the First Amendment.\u00a0 Because \u201cenforcement of the law inflicts irreparable harm\u2014it curtails political expression and does so immediately before an election\u2014\u201d the ACLU requested that Robinson Township suspend enforcement of Chapter 26 and threatened legal action if it did not comply.\u00a0 On October 25, the township agreed to suspend enforcement until at least after the November 5 general election.<\/p>\n

To label the ACLU\u2019s and Republican Committee\u2019s efforts a bipartisan victory would not be strictly accurate, however.\u00a0 Rose points out that \u201cmany people, especially those not very familiar with the ACLU,\u201d are not aware that the organization is nonpartisan.\u00a0 As stated on its website, the ACLU\u2019s mission\u2014to act as a \u201cguardian of liberty, working . . . to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country\u201d\u2014is indeed free of partisan language.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bill of Rights is designed to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority,\u201d Rose said.\u00a0 Sometimes, she explained, the views of the minority whose rights the ACLU defends are at odds with its own, as in the case of anti-abortion protestors, and even sometimes includes groups as unpopular as the Ku Klux Klan.\u00a0 \u201c[W]e mean it when we say we are a nonpartisan organization,\u201d Rose said. \u201cWe are always pleased when we are able to represent groups that are not our usual allies because it shows that our commitment to the Constitution transcends politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lauren Gailey is a third-year student at Duquesne University School of Law, where her favorite subjects include Constitutional Law and Criminal Law and Procedure.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by: Lauren Gailey, Associate Editor When reports began to emerge last week that the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s Greater Pittsburgh Chapter rushed to the defense of a local political group alleging that selective enforcement of a campaign sign ordinance was hurting its candidates, few were surprised.\u00a0 After all, the ACLU [\u2026] <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

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