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New Jersey's top court rules township can't ban protest rat

February 8, 2009
Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey top court has ruled that even an inflatable three-metre rat has free speech rights.

The case pitted an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union local against Lawrence Township in central New Jersey. The super-sized rat, sitting on its hind legs and bearing fangs, is a national symbol used by organized labour to signal a labour dispute.

It had been blown up and displayed at a 2005 labour event in the township until police enforced a law that bans banners, streamers and inflatable signs, except those announcing grand openings.

A labour official was fined $100 plus $33 court costs.

But the state supreme court ruled unanimously Thursday that the rodent is protected speech under the U.S. First Amendment.

"The township's elimination of an entire medium of expression without a readily available alternative renders the ordinance overbroad," Justice John E. Wallace Jr. wrote for the court.

The event was staged by the union to protest low wages being paid to electricians by an out-of-area contractor.

An appeals court panel ruled in 2007 that the town could ban the big black rat and affirmed the labour official's fines. That panel found the ordinance was content-neutral and was aimed at enhancing esthetics and protecting public health and safety.

The union appealed. Its lawyers argued the law violates their right to free expression and suppresses protest.

The township claimed the union's use of the rat was a form of commercial speech, less deserving of First Amendment protections.

The state Supreme Court found that the law wasn't neutral, and therefore was unconstitutional.

An ordinance "that prohibits a union from displaying a rat balloon, while at the same time authorizing a similar display as part of a grand opening, is content-based," it said.

[Inenuedbabnor]

Gosh! I did not know an inflatable rat can talk.

[Amfdaaandhaq]

Ang moh gone mad