Adult billboards

Columbia Daily Tribune

The Republican senator from Lee's Summit has won a battle in his crusade against adult messages on the highways, and a court decision in New Jersey suggests he might win the war.

But on what ground? Sen. Matt Bartle has moral objections to the adult video and bookstore industry, whose highway signs his legislation would fundamentally eliminate by banning all content except the name of the business and stating it is off-limits to minors.

This limitation of expression for a legal business seems unconstitutional to me, a clear attempt by the state to restrict speech because of its content. ...

However, in a stunning decision, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner found the state has a right to enact these regulations ...

This stretch makes a mockery of the First Amendment and the government's role in defending it. If the government has any legitimate interest in this case it is to protect the right of expression for law abiding individuals. Instead, Judge Fenner upholds the right of the state to conduct a holy war in denial of constitutional rights. ...

If the judge and the General Assembly want to protect minors from the "negative effects" of publicly available messages, they should focus on television, the movies and the Internet, media the youngsters really consume. ...

The Constitution exists precisely to prevent this sort of government oppression against minority interests, and courts are rather good at pointing this out to would-be persecutors. But in 1998 the Supreme Court of New Jersey upheld a law Bartle & Co. used as a model for theirs, boding ill for justice in the Missouri case. ...

Can any one of you, as a reasonable person, seriously allege these adult billboards are an unusual threat to traffic safety or the welfare of minors sufficient to throw out First Amendment rights? ...