Diamondhead MS: The ACLU of Mississippi filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of Diamondhead, MS residents who allege that the Diamondhead Property Owners Association (POA) covenants, rules and regulations prohibiting yard signs and door-to-door campaigning violate their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The City of Diamondhead is in the midst of its first municipal elections since incorporation in 2012.
The POA has a agreed to a Preliminary Injunction; residents and candidates began to place yard signs immedialty.
The ACLU sent an open letter to the POA last week asking the POA to assure residents that it would refrain from enforcing its covenants, rules and regulations that impermissibly violate its members' First Amendment rights. The POA had refused to give the residents such assurances, leaving them no recourse except to seek a judicial remedy.
The lawsuit and request for an emergency restraining order allege that the City and the POA are so intertwined that the POA has become a state actor subject to the demands of the Constitution. "The right to free speech is a fundamental right under our constitution," said Bear Atwood, Legal Director of the ACLU of Mississippi. "The U.S. Supreme Court has made it very clear that political speech enjoys special constitutional protection because it is crucial to maintaining a robust democracy and the freedom of expression and thought," she said.
"The courts have been unwilling to place restrictions on yard signs and on door-to-door solicitation," said Jennifer Riley-Collins, Executive Director at the ACLU of Mississippi. "Today the ACLU's lawsuit seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of Diamondhead residents to fully participate in the political process."
Founded in 1969, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi is a non-profit organization that works in the Deep South to defend and advance Constitutional rights for all Mississippians.
