Did You Know Saying Bad Words in the Airport is Illegal?
From May It Please the Court:
It seems that Elizabeth Venable, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Riverside (in dance history and theory, of all things), was leaving the baggage area at the John Wayne Airport and turned the air blue. A nearby Sheriff’s Deputy heard the foul language, and concerned about the effect on nearby children, cautioned the woman to mind her tongue, as my Grandmother would say. Venable instead asked an expletive-laden question of the Deputy, and was promptly cited for a misdemeanor.
More properly, for violating an Orange County law that bans “disorderly, obnoxious [or] indecent” behavior at the airport.
Perhaps not too surprising, she was none too happy with the misdemeanor charge, so she’s fighting back with a civil suit alleging a violation of her First Amendment right of free speech, and using the same argument to defend against the criminal charge.
According to the LA Times, “legal experts” are conflicted over whether she’ll win. The problem, though, is that the Times asked two laywers for an opinion, and then came to the conclusion that lawyers were conflicted. Anytime you ask two lawyers for an opinion, you’ll get four, so there should have been no surprise.
