Free Speech Does Not Include Sticking a Handbill on My Car

The City of San Clemente agrees with me and is willing to go to the Supreme Court to enforce it:

Handbills under windshield wipers count as litter, not free speech, San Clemente officials say, and they plan to go to the Supreme Court to prove it.

A group opposed to illegal immigration recently sued the city over its ban on leafleting parked cars.

At first, the Central District Court of California sided with the city. Then in early October, 9th Circuit Court judges disagreed on appeal and put an injunction on San Clemente's law.

Now the city has begun the process to petition the Supreme Court for an appeal, which it plans to file as early as next month.

"The City Council is asking themselves, 'What are we to tell the citizens if we just eliminate our anti-littering ordinance because we don't want to be accused of violating someone's First Amendment right?'" said Ed Richards, San Clemente's attorney. "The city gets people complaining about litter all the time. It can't just abdicate its responsibility. It has to deal with this issue."

I have a simple response to handbills on my car - I take them off and drop them on the ground. I do that intentionally in the hopes that whoever owns the parking lot will get tired of paying to clean them up and will enforce a ban on their property. You have no right to put your materials on my car, nor do you have a right to expect that I'll clean up after your mess. I don't care whether you're promoting a local diner or illegal immigration.

I would hope the Supremes would agree with me.

After this previous story in San Clemente I'm kind of surprised they're willing to fight this. They seem more of the "raise the white flag and surrender" type.