{"title":"A Penny for Your Thoughts: Free Speech and Paying Fines with Coins","authors":"P. C. Alexander","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3036079","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In October, 2016, the city of Springfield, Illinois encroached on the First Amendment rights of its citizens and hardly anyone noticed! The City Council approved an ordinance that significantly limits the payment of debts owed to the city with coins. Specifically, the new law provides that “Cash payments [to the City] may be limited to no more than $20 in coinage of which not more than $5 may be in pennies. Overpayments will be applied to any existing debt if applicable.” Municipalities may be inconvenienced when citizens use coins to pay their fines or taxes, but legislation to prevent citizens from doing so runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution. This essay is a reminder of how easily First Amendment rights can be forgotten.","PeriodicalId":144785,"journal":{"name":"University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review","volume":"414 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2017-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3036079","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In October, 2016, the city of Springfield, Illinois encroached on the First Amendment rights of its citizens and hardly anyone noticed! The City Council approved an ordinance that significantly limits the payment of debts owed to the city with coins. Specifically, the new law provides that “Cash payments [to the City] may be limited to no more than $20 in coinage of which not more than $5 may be in pennies. Overpayments will be applied to any existing debt if applicable.” Municipalities may be inconvenienced when citizens use coins to pay their fines or taxes, but legislation to prevent citizens from doing so runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution. This essay is a reminder of how easily First Amendment rights can be forgotten.