Door-to-door canvassing and the First Amendment
Jul 18:  Hours extended for soliciting in local neighborhood  

UPPER ARLINGTON -- "Kendra Ulrich is trying to educate people in Upper Arlington about Ohio pollution and how they can help. Now she and others can do this until 9 p.m. She's with Ohio Citizen Action, a non-profit environmental group that fought successfully to convince the city to extend the hours. 'That's when we're able to meet the most people. Get that message out there to neighbors,' Sarah Corbin with Ohio Citizen Action said. Ohio Citizen Action threatened to sue the city if they didn't change the hours," Eve Mueller, WBNS Columbus.
Jul 13, 2006:  Residents can anticipate later knocks on doors
Legislation approved Monday will allow solicitation until 9 p.m. for a 90-day period

UPPER ARLINGTON -- "An Ohio environmental group has forced Upper Arlington to extend its legal hours of door-to-door solicitation... 'There is a mountain of federal case law protecting this First Amendment right,' said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action. 'We're pleased that Upper Arlington looks as if they will work with us.' The environmental group, which has recently pushed Columbus distributors to disclose the use of Teflon chemicals in food packaging, has worked with hundreds of Ohio communities in the past 30 years to free up canvassing restrictions, Buchanan said," Lindsey Teter, Suburban News Publications.

Jul 29, 2005:  Englewood sued over solicitation restriction
Group sues for right to knock on doors later than 6 p.m.

ENGLEWOOD -- "A state environmental group has sued Englewood, claiming a city's ordinance that restricts door-to-door solicitation violates free speech. Englewood allows such solicitations between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day of the week. Anyone who violates the ordinance faces a $250 fine. But Ohio Citizens Action, the group that filed the suit, wants to knock on doors later than that. 'The whole premise of our organization is that we get out and talk to everybody,' said the group's president, Sandy Buchanan. 'Nobody is home before 6.' Englewood officials were confident they would prevail," Ryan Justin Fox, Dayton Daily News.
May 21, 2003:  Mentor-on-the-Lake can't limit group's canvassing, judge says

CLEVELAND -- "A federal judge yesterday ruled that Mentor-on-the-Lake placed unconstitutional restrictions on Ohio Citizen Action's canvassing in neighborhoods. U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent said in his opinion that Mentor-on-the-Lake's ordinance violated the group's rights to raise funds and of free speech. Nugent ruled that the city could not enforce the ordinance and ordered a hearing to determine damages. Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, called the decision significant and said it could have statewide ramifications in other cities that have also tried to limit the group's canvassing. 'The ruling could affect the rights of many nonprofit organizations who go door to door,' Buchanan said. . . . She said members want to canvass lakefront neighborhoods like Mentor-on-the-Lake that could be affected by a nuclear accident at Davis-Besse," Maggi Martin, Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Full text of decision (44 KB pdf file).

CLEVELAND -- "Mentor-on-the-Lake; Anti-canvassing Law thrown out in federal court," Ohio News Network.

CLEVELAND -- "Judge tossed out ordinance," Associated Press.
May 20, 2003:  Federal judge upholds Ohio Citizen Action's right to canvass door-to-door

CLEVELAND -- "This Court finds that the Ordinance at issue is unconstitutional on its face, and that it has been applied to prevent Ohio Citizen Action from conducting lawful speech and fund-raising. Therefore, Plaintiffs Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and/or Partial Summary Judgment is granted," Judge Donald C. Nugent, memorandum opinion, Ohio Citizen Action v. City of Mentor-on-the-Lake, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division (44 KB pdf file).
Oct 10, 2002:  Insurance settles federal lawsuit in Archbold

ARCHBOLD -- ". . . the village last month dropped requirements that solicitors for nonprofit organizations who are not collecting money register with the village police department and that they carry picture identification. Last spring - in an attempt to settle the lawsuit filed in 2001 - Archbold modified its previous law, which was approved in 1994 so that: (1) Soliciting and canvassing were allowed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. - five more hours than the previous ordinance listed, which allowed people to go door to door from noon to 7 p.m.; (2) The penalty for violations was reduced from a maximum $500 fine and six months jail to a maximum $100 fine per offense; and (3) The restriction that only "not-for-profit entities" could solicit or canvass was removed," Toledo Blade.
Jun 19, 2002:  The Supreme Court leaves individuals to say no thanks

WASHINGTON, DC -- "The Jehovah's Witnesses saw the threat to their proselytizing and to their First Amendment protection. The high court saw it, too. Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens made a pointed observation: A resident can refuse to listen and can put up a no solicitation sign. A government shouldn't determine who speaks to whom," editorial, Akron Beacon Journal.
Jun 18, 2002:  High court backs canvassers' rights
Justices strike down law requiring permit

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Monday’s case turned in part on the notion of anonymity when speaking one’s mind. The court already has held that the Constitution gives people the right to anonymously distribute campaign literature. Monday’s ruling extends that right to door-to-door soliciting for other causes," Associated Press.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Canvassing law nullified; High court invalidates permit requirement," Jack Torry, Columbus Dispatch.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Solicitors don't need OK from City Hall," Tom Diemer, Elizabeth Auster, Cleveland Plain Dealer.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Supreme Court ruling backs door-to-door solicitations; Free-speech rights top quest to shield residents," wire reports, Toledo Blade.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Court strikes down curb on visits by Jehovah's Witnesses," Linda Greenhouse, New York Times.
Jun 17, 2002:  Door-to-door solicitors do not need prior permission, Court rules
Cesar Chavez (1927 - 1993), seen here in San Jose, CA,
was a relentless door-to-door canvasser.
Cesar Chavez canvassing
WASHINGTON, DC -- "In an 8-to-1 ruling, the Court declared that an anti-solicitation ordinance passed by the Village of Stratton [Ohio] was so broad that it violated the First Amendment's safeguards against free speech. . . 'It is offensive — not only to the values protected by the First Amendment, but to the very notion of a free society — that in the context of everyday public discourse a citizen must first inform the government of her desire to speak to her neighbors and then obtain a permit to do so,' Justice Stevens wrote," David Stout, New York Times.
Full text of Court opinion (.pdf).

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Supreme Court throws out law requiring permits for doorstep sales, proselytizing, " "Court said," "Dissented," "Doorstep proselytizing," Anne Gearan, Associated Press.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "U.S. Supreme Court: Ohio town cannot limit door-to-door solicitors," Bill Cohen, Ohio Public Radio.

WASHINGTON, DC -- "Religious solicitors free to knock; The justices protect the right of Jehovah's Witnesses and others to solicit door to door with no town permit," Christian Science Monitor.