« Ind. Court - Clark County seeks special property tax; Judge Wentworth hears appeal on property levy | Main | Ind. Gov't. - "Could deaths of Indiana children have been prevented? Investigation raises questions about whether Department of Child Services could have done more to protect kids" »

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Courts - 10th Circuit rules sex offenders have right to libraries

The Chicago Tribune today has a story by Keith Coffman of Reuters. The story begins:

A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that a policy barring registered sex offenders from public libraries in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was unconstitutional, a decision that could have reverberations across the nation.

"The First Amendment includes a fundamental right to receive information," a three-judge panel of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote.

"By prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing ... public libraries, the city's ban precludes these individuals from exercising this right in a particular government forum," the court said.

But the panel left open the possibility of allowing restrictions less stringent than an outright ban.

Later in the long story:
Friday's decision could have nationwide implications, as the state of Iowa, three cities in Massachusetts and jurisdictions in North Carolina and Texas all have tried to enact some sort of sex offender library ban, according to an Indiana University law school article. * * *

However, the judges said city officials failed to look at other less restrictive approaches, including designating certain hours for sex offenders, requiring them to check in with library staff or restricting areas of the library that they could use.

Sentencing Law Blog has a post headlined "Tenth Circuit (grudgingly?) upholds ruling striking down Albuquerque ban on sex offenders in libraries" that includes a link to the 44-page opinion, Doe v. City of Albuquerque, No. 10-2102 (10th Cir. Jan. 20, 2012).

The Indiana Law Review article mentioned is a 2011, 38-page article by Jennifer Ekblaw, J.D. Candidate, Indiana University School of Law—Indianapolis, 2011.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 21, 2012 11:11 AM
Posted to Courts in general