The ACLU of Ohio has sent letters to Summit County, the cities of Canton and Youngstown, and dozens of other municipalities, urging them to end laws that ban or put limits on panhandling.
The organization said the 2015 Supreme Court decision inReed v. Town of Gilbert protects panhandling as a form of free speech.
Joe Mead is an attorney working with the ACLU of Ohio.
“A lot of justification that cities give for why they would pass a panhandling law is that people don’t want to be panhandled. But the Constitution gives you a right to free speech, not a right to be free from speech,” he said.
The ACLU of Ohio challenged both Akronand Clevelandin the past for panhandling laws. Both cities have since repealed them.
