Opinion ID: 772102
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Unconstitutionally Overbroad

Text: 26 Plaintiffs argue the ordinance is unconstitutionally overbroad because it would have the effect of prohibiting individuals from going door-to-door to engage in political speech without first obtaining a permit. An effect, they allege, the Supreme Court effectively made unconstitutional in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995), by invalidating an Ohio statute that prohibited the distribution of anonymous campaign literature. Because requiring individuals engaging in political speech to register before going door-to-door would effectively prevent them from remaining anonymous, they conclude, the ordinance is unconstitutional. They are mistaken. 27 McIntyre's holding misses Stratton's ordinance. The McIntyre Court established a First Amendment right to distribute political pamphlets anonymously. See id. at 357. We agree that read broadly, the opinion arguably includes in that right the ability to speak to others anonymously. But we do not understand how Stratton's ordinance inhibits this right. As we see it, individuals going door-to-door to engage in political speech are not anonymous by virtue of the fact that they reveal a portion of their identities--their physical identities--to the residents they canvass. In other words, the ordinance does not require canvassers going door-to-door to reveal their identities; instead, the very act of going door-to-door requires the canvassers to reveal a portion of their identities. 28 While the ordinance requires political canvassers to reveal the remainder of their identities, i.e., their names, we do not believe that requirement rises to the level of impinging on First Amendment protected speech the Court sought to protect by fashioning the right in McIntyre. By creating a right of anonymity, the Court sought to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation--and their ideas from suppression. Id. Once the political canvassers are before the resident, the ability to protect them from those dangers is substantially diminished. Accordingly, there is little reason to read the Court's holding as protecting political canvassers from being required to reveal a portion of their identities when their very activity will reveal other portions of their identity and subject them to scrutiny. 6 29