Arab "Hate Speech"

From the sign code in Arab, Alabama, which regulates privately owned signs on private property:

While trying to maintain content-neutrality, signs that contain vulgar, threatening, hate speech, lewd or indecent content are not permitted.

I believe that should read "while not actually trying to maintain content-neutrality." Indeed, a prohibition on "vulgar" signs is unconstitutionally content-based and vague; a prohibition on "lewd or indecent content" is unconstitutionally content-based and probably vague; a prohibition on "hate speech" is unconstitutionally viewpoint-based (and content-based) and vague. The prohibition on threatening speech, if it's limited to speech that constitutes a "true threat" of illegal conduct, is also content-based but constitutionally permissible (since true threats are excluded from First Amendment protection).

The name of the city is pronounced "AY-rab," if I'm hearing the recording at Arab City Hall correctly.

Comments

[ThePublius]

The people who write and pass ordinances like this are either bullies or idiots or both. For example, when writing a sign code, why not consult a 1st Amendment expert? It could probably be done for free, right Prof. Volokh?

[Martinned]

On the other hand, if you do something unconstitutional there's bound to be litigation. So why bother? (Particularly in Alabama, the state that famously has the longest and most complicated constitution in the world, even after they took out all the racist stuff.)

If US Presidents don't seem to care whether the bills they sign into law are constitutional, why should a local town council lose any sleep over it?

[Dr. Ed 2]

The problem is that there is no real penalty for passing grotesquely unconstitutional policies — I’d like to see the city council go to jail for violation of civil rights under color of law.

[Martinned]

Go for it!

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

[Magister]

That's a lot of fancy words! Usually gets translated as "qualified immunity", sometimes other kinds of immunity.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Well, this is a crime, QI is a defense it civil suits. Legislative immunity is probably applicable here.

[Martinned]

That's a good question: Where does it say that?

[TwelveInchPianist]

Say what?

[Dr. Ed 2]

Good luck.

The problem is that White Males aren't protected by that law.

[Martinned]

Yes, it's tough being a white male in America.

[Noscitur a sociis]

According to Wikipedia, Arab is a town of fewer than 8500 people with an area of less than 14 square miles. As the soi-distant libertarians endorsing restrictive zoning rules can tell you, this is just people exercising their freedom to live in the kind of community they want. Why do you hate freedom?

[apedad]

Ever hear of the US Constitution thing?

It restricts govts from enacting certain laws.

Why do you hate the United States?

[Sarcastr0]

I could be wrong, but I believe from reading this blog that hate speech regulation is not per se unconstitutional - it's all in the application/implementation.

Maybe that's wrong, but that's the state of the law.

[Josh R]

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any application that is constitutional.

[Eugene Volokh]

A restriction on "hate speech" is facially unconstitutional: vague, overbroad, and viewpoint-based. A law such as the one here should, under current First Amendment precedents, be struck down on its face, and thus be inapplicable to anyone.

It's true that laws banning, say, true threats of violence (whether racist or otherwise) or face-to-face personal insults (whether racist or otherwise) are constitutional, and they might be constitutionally applicable to some speech that some might call "hate speech." But it's not constitutional for a law to purport to restrict "hate speech" as such.

[Mr. Bumble]

How did "hate speech" and "hate crimes" become a thing resulting in "laws" against them or as enhancements to existing laws?

[Eugene Volokh]

1. "Hate speech" isn't a category recognized by First Amendment law. Some jurisdictions have tried to limit it, but there's no legal support for that.

2. "Hate crimes," on the other hand, reflect the principle that violence, vandalism, etc., may be punished more when it has a particular motivation. Killing someone for money is often punished more than killing someone out of rage (as first-degree murder rather than second-degree murder), which is punished more than killing someone out of what the law views as understandable rage (which may be voluntary manslaughter). Likewise, treating someone differently in employment, housing, public accommodations, and the like based on their race, religion, and so on is treated as legally punishable (though usually just through civil liability); hate crime laws generally extend that to selecting a crime victim based on those categories. That's why the Court upheld hate crime laws in Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993), after rejecting even a very narrow sort of hate speech law in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul (1992). There are still reasons one might criticize hate crime laws, of course (and the boundary between them is sometimes vague, as when hate crimes enhancements are applied to certain well-recognized speech crimes, such as threats or fighting words). But hate crime laws are quite different in important ways from hate speech laws.

[MeanGene]

But, couldn't "hate crime" punishments be characterized as additional punishment for the defendant's opinions?

[SRG]

Opinions, as put into illegal action, so not "expressive" in a way that gets a 1A pass.

[Dr. Ed 2]

The initial was that police weren't enforcing the underlying crimes, and by elevating the sanctions, they would have to. It worked.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Edit function funky -- I would have added that this would not have been my preferred approach, and there are consequences.

But the problem was bigoted cops who actually approved of gays being beaten up or swatstickers being sprayed on synagogues and it took the hate crime laws to force the police bureaucracy to force the officers to enforce objective laws against A&B and vandalism. Forcing them to do this was a good thing -- but it would have been better if it could have been done a better way.

AND it is now causing undesired and quite unexpected consequences.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

The USSC never abolished the category of “group libel,” but in theory group libel laws would be harder to enforce what with the Sullivan rules (Arabs, Jews, Blacks, Asians, Whites, etc., as groups, strike me as the collective equivalent public figures) and with the libel plaintiff having to prove falsity rather than the defendant having to prove truth.

[Sarcastr0]

Prof Volokh -

A restriction on “hate speech” is facially unconstitutional: vague, overbroad, and viewpoint-based. A law such as the one here should, under current First Amendment precedents, be struck down on its face, and thus be inapplicable to anyone.

Is this what the law is, or how the law should be in your view?

[TwelveInchPianist]

"...under current First Amendment precedents..."

[Sarcastr0]

"should"

[TwelveInchPianist]

sigh. "...should, under current First Amendment precedents..."

[apedad]

Frank Drakman is (annoyingly) our resident phonetic spelling expert so we'll let him weigh in on the correct pronunciation of the town's name.

[Frank Drackman]

So because I went to college/med school in Alabama, I'm an expert in all things Alabama????, my Yankee Alarm goes off if I get North of Montevallo....
but ask me about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercourse,_Alabama
anytime

Frank "Trump's indictment does not bother me, does Sleepy Joe feeling up Eva Longoria's tits bother you?"

[Mr. Bumble]

Alabama has nothing on PA with towns named Bird in Hand, Blue Balls and of course Intercourse.

[Frank Drackman]

or Knob Knoster MO

[Mr. Bumble]

...and in keeping with Pride month, Fort Gay WV.

[bernard11]

Hey!

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Don't forget this one:

https://visitpago.com/listings/climax-tunnel/

[Krychek_2]

"our resident phonetic spelling expert."

Oh, is that what you call it?

[apedad]

Hey! I added the 'annoying' part too.

(But in parentheses since we're all trying to be "Kindler/Gentler.")

[Frank Drackman]

Just because I’m “Kindler/Gentler” Frank doesn’t mean I can’t open up a can of “Whup Ass” on y’all. I was a military brat, 30+ years of living in the South and I still get, “Yew a’int frum r’ound cheer, R yew?”

Frank

[apedad]

Oct. 1980, Biloxi, MS, in a bar right outside of Keesler AFB; having been born and raised in the Boston suburbs and still with the accent, I got the ol' “Yew must bea Yankey boa?” thing too.

It was the first time I ever considered myself a Yankee in the Civil War sense.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

He was simply complimenting you on the nice Yankee boa you were wearing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boa_(clothing_accessory)#/media/File:Pink_feather_boa_-_colour_isolated.jpg

[Voize]

Ahm gone dryve inna AY-rab en mah VEE-hickle.

It was disappointing as a lad to discover that, Beverly Hillbillies to the contrary, possum pie isn't made with possum.

[Krychek_2]

And my recipe for Indian pudding doesn't use real Indians either.

[Voize]

Now I'm afraid to ask about the gopher gravy.

[santamonica811]

If it doesn't use real Indians, then it's false advertising. And then you're gonna get Sioux-ed.

[Mr. Bumble]

Oh oh, starting to look like the Reason side,

[Jmaie]

Thanks, Mike for a great article. I'm making 12 gazillion dollars working from home. You can too, go here _________

[MeanGene]

Is it "hateful" to make fun of the way people speak in other regions?

[arbitrary aardvark]

It looks like 104 guntersville rd is for rent for $1200/mo, if one of y’all wants standing in Arab. it is possible that a polite letter to the city attorney, if any, might do the trick.

[Frank Drackman]

$1200 a month??? there ain't that much money in the whole town of A-rab

[bernard11]

As a former resident of Huntsville - not far away - I assure you that the name of the town is indeed pronounced "Ay-rab," with the "A" pronounced as in "lake."

[Mr. Bumble]

FWIW: from wilipedia

What is now Arab was established by Stephen Tuttle Thompson in the 1840s, and was originally known as "Thompson's Village".[4] The current name of the town was an unintentional misspelling by the U.S. Postal Service in 1882 of the city's intended name, taken from Arad Thompson, the son of the town founder, who had applied for a post office that year. "Arad" was one of three names sent to the Postal Service for consideration, the others being "Ink" and "Bird." Arab has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.[5]

Arab was incorporated in 1892.[6]

Arab was a sundown town, with a sign warning African Americans not to stay in Arab after dark[7] and, historically, even barring them during the day.[8] Ku Klux Klan material has been disseminated multiple times in Arab in recent years.[9]

[bernard11]

Arab was a sundown town, with a sign warning African Americans not to stay in Arab after dark

As was nearby Cullman.

[Frank Drackman]

And did you know that there's a "Cairo" Georgia, (pronounced Kay-Roh)
and I'll see your gratuitous defamation of a Southern village and raise you one.
Donalsonville is a city in and the county seat of Seminole County, Georgia, United States.[5] The population was 2,650 at the 2010 census
Donalsonville is the location of the lynching of Ollie Hunter, an African American woman in her mid-sixties, who, in 1944, was assaulted and killed by a young white man upon leaving a local general store. The identity of her killer (who was briefly detained but released and never prosecuted) remains unknown.

Frank

[Paladin_44]

Did I beat Rev Arthur Kirkland to the punch on this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYn_6NjcopY

[dlachmann]

New Yorker by birth and an Alabamian by marriage. I’ve been there. Locals pronounce it AY-rab. Roll Tide!

[jpointer]

Prof. is almost correct. It is pronounced "ey-rab."

Here is a short discussion of how the town got its name:

“(Arab) got its name through a typographical error. After a village grew up around mid-19th-century settler Stephen Tuttle Thompson’s farm, Thompson asked the federal government to open a local post office. He offered three possible names for it: Ink, Blue Bird, and Arad, the last of these for his son Ranson Arad Thompson. Whoever processed the application chose Arad — but misspelled it “Arab,” and the name stuck.”

LINK: https://www.al.com/news/2023/06/alabama-town-makes-list-of-strangest-names-in-the-us.html

[Almazeyd Blog]

"while not actually trying to maintain content-neutrality." .. HOW?