Service Employees' Int'l. Union v. Houston, No. 08-20616

In an action by a union claiming that city ordinances, pursuant to which the city denied the union a permit to conduct a rally in support of a strike, violated the First Amendment, partial summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part where: 1) the city's noise ordinance made reasonable distinctions among categories in the level of disruption caused by noise that required a permit and noises that came from exempted sources; and 2) the enforcement of Houston's parade ordinance did not turn on whether paraders were protesting as opposed to celebrating.  However, the order is reversed in part where: 1) the city's limit of two permits per location per thirty-day period was not narrowly tailored and was thus unconstitutional; and 2) the Houston Parks Department failed to specify which areas of the City's parks required permits, and this rendered the ordinance at issue void for vagueness.

Read Service Employees' Int'l. Union v. Houston, No. 08-20616

Appellate Information

Filed January 28, 2010

Judges

Opinion by Judge Southwick