The town of Oyster Bay, N.Y., violated a woman’s First Amendment rights when it barred her from distributing Jews for Jesus leaflets in a public park and charged her with violating an ordinance when she persisted, a Nassau judge has ruled.
In People v. Mendelson, 00602/2006, District Court Judge Sondra K. Pardes agreed with the defendant, Susan Mendelson, that �168-16 gave the town unfettered discretion to prohibit protected forms of expression. Thus, she concluded that the provision violated the U.S. Constitution on its face and as applied to Mendelson.
