A former dean at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications has succeeded in his attempt to repeal a law against political free speech in his community.

David Rubin, who is currently a professor and former dean of Newhouse, fought against a law in Manlius, N.Y., a town about 10 miles away from Syracuse University. The ordinance stated that campaign lawn signs could not be posted until 30 days before an election and must be removed seven days after the election, in addition to requiring a permit.

Rubin said he remembered when the ordinance first came to his attention about five years ago.

“We had some typical lawn signs up and one day I came back from Newhouse and the signs were gone. I asked my wife what happened and she said a code enforcer from the town of Manlius came to her and said the signs had to come down,” he said. “I said to her, ‘I think this is unconstitutional.’”

Rubin said he didn’t take any action immediately, but after the issue came up again outside Manlius, he addressed the issue through his column in The Post-Standard.

He said a group called the Center for Competitive Politics in Virginia read his article and offered to represent him for free and take the town of Manlius to court about the ordinance.

The center’s mission is to promote and defend First Amendment rights to free political speech, assembly and petition through strategic litigation, activism, training, research and education, according to its website.

“First, the law was unconstitutional because it disfavored one type of political speech from other types of speech. The regulation for political yard signs was stricter than others. Only political yard signs required a permit, unlike any other type,” said Allen Dickerson, the legal director for the center. “Secondly, because it was not tailored to the city’s reported interest, which was aesthetics and traffic safety. If that was their interest there was no reason to treat political signs differently than other signs.”

Rubin agreed to file a lawsuit against the town, but first wanted to advise them that the law was unconstitutional in hopes they would repeal it before legal action was taken.

The town didn’t respond to it, Rubin said. So in August, he and the center filed a suit in federal court and asked it to issue an injunction to prevent the law from being enforced, he said.

He said the lawsuit got the town board’s attention, as “they knew they would lose in court.” In September, the town board called a meeting to discuss the ordinance and voted to repeal it. Rubin and the center then dropped the lawsuit, and town officials said they have no plans to consider any new ordinance until 2014 at the earliest, according to an Oct. 23 Newhouse news release.

Said Rubin: “We are watching Manlius. Anything that they pass that the center or I feel is unconstitutional we could bring to court.”

Published on October 31, 2013 at 3:11 am