Opinion ID: 382337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Restrictions as to Content

Text: 24 Subparagraph 3, prohibiting the amplification of words or sounds that are obscene or slanderous, is the only provision of section 29-6(b) which operates as a prior restraint on the content of the sounds and speech amplified, rather than merely the time, place, and manner. As such, it is subject to an even more exacting judicial scrutiny. Police Dept. of City of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 96-100, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 2290-92, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972). The district court found the subparagraph 3 prohibition of obscene sounds to be unconstitutionally overbroad because it did not specifically state that only erotic sounds could be prohibited under Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S.Ct. 2607, 37 L.Ed.2d 419 (1973). We disagree and reverse the district court. The Supreme Court has stated that the First Amendment has a special meaning in the context of broadcasting. Because broadcast speech exposes the public to uninvited or even unwelcome speech in a manner that often gives the listener no completely effective means of avoidance, the state may act to impose sanctions on those who use obscene, indecent, or profane language during broadcasts. F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 98 S.Ct. 3026, 3039-41, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978). Amplified speech on public streets creates a parallel situation when it is given the broad rights that we affirm in this opinion. The citizen on the streets who encounters amplified speech cannot voluntarily divert his attention or his path, or that of his family and children, to avoid the objectionable material, as he usually can in regards to printed or unamplified speech. For that reason the City of Houston may prohibit all obscene content in speech and sounds that will be amplified, and is not restricted to specifically erotic speech under Miller. 25 The plaintiff also raised a vagueness challenge to the obscene provision of subparagraph 3. The Supreme Court has previously decided that this term is precise enough to convey sufficiently definite warning ... when measured by common understanding and practices. Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 491-92, 77 S.Ct. 1304, 1212-13, 1 L.Ed.2d 1498 (1957), quoting United States v. Petrillo, 332 U.S. 1, 8, 67 S.Ct. 1538, 1542, 91 L.Ed. 1877 (1947). The plaintiff's argument is thus without merit. 26 The district court invalidated the subparagraph 3 prohibition of slanderous speech on grounds of unconstitutional vagueness. The district court reasoned that the common law of slander and libel has been greatly modified by the Supreme Court in a series of landmark cases beginning with New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Under this line of cases, certain forms of common-law defamation are now protected by the First Amendment, such as statements about public officials unless made with knowledge of the statement's falsity or reckless disregard for its accuracy. Id., 376 U.S. at 279-83, 84 S.Ct. at 725-27. The Houston ordinance makes no attempt to distinguish the specific forms of slander that the city may constitutionally prohibit. That overbreadth exerts a substantial chill upon speech that is close to the heart of the First Amendment, because it places the speaker in doubt regarding what he may say in amplified speech about public officials and public figures. The Eighth Circuit has held similar language in 18 U.S.C. § 1718 to be unconstitutionally overbroad for not defining its proper reach more specifically. Tollett v. United States, 485 F.2d 1087, 1097-98 (8th Cir. 1973). We adopt the same analysis as to this term in the Houston ordinance. Houston may constitutionally prohibit certain forms of slanderous speech, but it must do so with specificity and clarity. The mere word slanderous in this ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad under the Fourteenth and First Amendments.