Source: ACSOL
A lawsuit was filed on January 18 challenging a Halloween sign requirement in Marion County, Arkansas. The Halloween sign was created by the government and a registration officer taped the sign to the front door of a registrant’s home. The sign was required to be posted for about two weeks, one week before Halloween and one week after Halloween.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff in the case objected to the posting of the Halloween sign on his home and told the registration officer that the sign violated his rights under the First Amendment. The registration officer answered that objection by stating “sue me.”
The Arkansas lawsuit includes two exhibits — a document regarding the Halloween myth that registrants pose a danger on Halloween and a document from Marion County stating their requirement for Halloween signs. Links to the complaint as well as the exhibits can be found below.
A similar lawsuit was filed in a federal district court in Missouri in October 2023. The Missouri court granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in that case which prevented the state government from enforcing the Missouri state law that required Halloween signs to be posted on Halloween only. The TRO has been extended at least until March 27, the scheduled trial date.
“The Arkansas lawsuit is factually different than the Missouri lawsuit in that there is no state law in Arkansas that requires registrants to post Halloween signs. Instead, it appears that some counties in Arkansas are requiring those signs,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci who is lead counsel in both cases. “Having said that, the law in both cases is the same. That is, the Halloween signs constitute compelled speech and thus violate the First Amendment.”
An application for a TRO has not yet been filed in the Arkansas case because Halloween is more than nine months away and the case could be resolved before that date.
Download these documents:
Complaint – CONFORMED – Jan 2024
Complaint – Exhibit A – ATSA Document
Complaint – Exhibit B – Marion County Document
Find where this “registration officer” lives and tape a huge sign on his front door that states “A pig lives here”. If he objects, just say “sue me”.
Hope the USDC Western AR is ready for a reality check! As neighboring states, MO and AR are riding shotgun with each other on this topic and being member states of the 8th CCOA…
Oh, I’d love this officer to get sued, which seems is going to happen. It would be so nice if he loses and his employer declines to pay the judgment against him. Such bullshit would happen much less frequently if the cops that pulled such stunts were forced to forfeit large chunks of their salaries (or liquidate their property and homes) to satisfy the debt.
I can’t believe this Halloween sign nonsense is still going on. Can I suggest that around August or September ACSOL, FAC, and other affiliates send a letter to all 50 state Attorneys General detailing this and similar cases saying Halloween signs cannot be forced and request they advise their state sheriffs not to do it?
How many times does this dead horse need to be beaten?
If the Halloween signs are un-Constitutional as “compelled speech,” what about the “unique identifier” on US passports, managed by an NGO outside of the legal system?