Federal Court: First Amendment Protects Sharing Food With Homeless People

[ashling]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla/2018/08/27/federal-court-first-amendment-protects-sharing-food-with-homeless-people/#425f0f6e4884

In a colorful decision that managed to invoke the Boston Tea Party, Lady Macbeth and Jesus of Nazareth, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that feeding the homeless is “expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.” The decision revives a challenge brought by a local chapter of Food Not Bombs, which sued Fort Lauderdale, Florida for requiring a permit to share food in public parks.

Thanks to the city's ordinance, Fort Lauderdale has become infamous for cracking down on compassion. In 2014, police arrested a 90-year-old man and two ministers who were simply trying to share food with the homeless.

“We are very pleased with this ruling, and we look forward to continuing our community organizing in Fort Lauderdale,” Nathan Pim, a member of Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs and a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement. “We hope we are one step closer to something we've fought for over many years—simply being able to help people without being threatened with arrest by people who should be working with us.”

[Angry Dragon]

1. Good call

[Tiggeroshii]

2. What

What kind of world are we in where giving homeless people food would ever be an issue?

[IndianaDave]

4. It's FLORIDA!

If they were distributing guns, they would probably be getting medals.

[FBaggins]

5. Such laws exist all over

If you’re distributing prepared food (e.g., a sandwich) to the public, it had better have been prepared in an inspected/certified kitchen or someone will let you know about it. Even homemade cookies can get you in trouble

[smirkymonkey]

3. Good.

It is ridiculous to think it would be otherwise.

[Lee-Lee]

6. That's an interesting ruling. It will be interesting to see how far it gets stretched

Food today, what tomorrow?

I can see it having implications in a lot of other cases. One big one being places that ban needle exchanges. If you can’t ban handing food out to the hungry it’s hard to argue handing out needles in the name of public health is any different.

[groundloop]

7. I actually disagree with this ruling (but NOT with feeding homeless / needy people)

It's a sham that we need to make up novel interpretations of the First Amendment in order to help people. I don't believe for an instant that when the framers of the Constitution wrote the first amendment that they had anything in mind other than allowing people to discuss their opinions concerning politics freely and openly.

When we start adding novel twists to the Constitution and Bill of Rights we're going down a slippery slope (i.e. ......"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.&quot