Split federal court ruling on local Halloween sex offender ordinance in California
As reported in this local article, headlined “Judge temporarily blocks part of Simi Valley Halloween sex offender law,” a notable constitutional lawsuit resulted in a split outcome in California federal court. Here are the details:
A federal judge Monday temporarily blocked enforcement of a key provision of Simi Valley’s new Halloween sex offender law but left the rest of the ordinance intact. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson’s ruling came days before the holiday on Wednesday.
Anderson temporarily blocked the city from requiring its several dozen convicted child sex offenders listed on the Megan’s Law website to post signs on their front doors on Halloween saying: “No candy or treats at this residence.”
But Anderson let stand requirements that the offenders refrain from opening their doors to trick-or-treating children and decorating the outside of their homes or front lawns with Halloween ornaments. The convicts also must turn off outdoor lighting on their properties from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday.
Attorney Janice Bellucci, who last month filed a lawsuit saying the law was unconstitutional, said she was pleased with the ruling even though she had sought to have enforcement of the entire ordinance temporarily blocked pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Simi Valley City Attorney Marjorie Baxter said the ruling was “a big victory on the majority of the ordinance.” The Simi Valley City Council on Sept. 10 enacted the law — the only one of its kind in Ventura County — to try to prevent sex offenders from having contact with trick-or-treating children. It was championed by Mayor Bob Huber, a lawyer who is seeking re-election Nov. 6.
Bellucci, president of the board of a group called California Reform Sex Offender Laws, filed the suit Sept. 28 on behalf of five registered sex offenders, three of their spouses and two of their children, all Simi Valley residents. It says the law violates the First and 14th Amendments of the Constitution because it “suppresses and unduly chills protected speech and expression.”
Private attorneys representing the city in the lawsuit disagree. “Convicted child molesters have no constitutionally protected right to hand out candy at Halloween,” they said in court papers. “Children, on the other hand, do have a constitutionally protected right to be safe from sexual assault.”
I find intriguing the city’s assertion that children have a “constitutionally protected right to be safe from sexual assault,” in part because taking that claim seriously could subject the city to liability if and whenever the city failed to keep children safe from sexual assault in other settings.
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