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MAGA Hats Aren’t the Problem at Polls. Government Banning Speech Is.

Published by The Daily Signal 

By Elizabeth Slattery  


States do not have a legitimate interest in stamping out speech on clothing because it might “trigger” a sensitive snowflake at the polls.

In Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, the Supreme Court will decide whether the First Amendment allows states to severely limit free speech on clothing at the polls because it might be construed as political.

Elie Mystal, writing Jan. 24 at Above the Law, claims that that’s essential to Minnesota preventing intimidation at the polls, but a quick look reveals that Minnesota has other laws prohibiting campaigning within 100 feet of the polls, or threatening, bribing, or otherwise harassing voters.

Those laws advance the state’s legitimate interests in preventing intimidation and violence at the polls and in ensuring the integrity of its elections. But Minnesota lacks constitutional authority to transform polling places into “safe spaces” free from anything that could be construed as political speech.

Mystal writes, “The Heritage Foundation forgets that people who are now on their side have a history of murdering minorities who try to vote where they are not supposed to.” This guilt-by-association charge is strange, to say the least.

Our nation, unfortunately, has an ugly history of race relations, and there certainly have been instances of horrific violence and intimidation surrounding polling places. Luckily, that behavior is a thing of the past, and a ruling for the Minnesota Voters Alliance won’t open up the floodgates of threats, coercion, and intimidation of voters.

Mystal disagrees, saying it would result in “a sea of MAGA hat wearers brandishing nooses” at the polls. He even goes so far as to equate “Make America Great Again” hats with a T-shirt that says “I would murder you if I could.”

See the full story here.


Link: http://dailysignal.com/2018/01/25/maga-hats-arent-the-problem-at-polls-government-banning-speech-is/


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