United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  The ACLU of Kentucky represented the commander of a local American Legion Post in challenging a Catlettsburg ordinance prohibiting the placement of leaflets under car windshield wipers. Because the Supreme Court of the United States has recognized leafleting as one of the most efficient and least costly means of communication, we argued that Catlettsburg’s ban – which is intended to prevent littering – violates the First Amendment’s free speech clause. We also argued that a city’s desire to prevent littering requires it to punish litterers, not leafletters.

U.S. District Judge Henry R. Wilhoit rejected our arguments, holding that the content-neutral ban was reasonable. We appealed the decision to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which agreed with the District Court. The Sixth Circuit held that the ordinance prohibiting the placement of leaflets on vehicles was a reasonable time, place, and manner regulation of speech and therefore is constitutional. The Court noted that people wishing to distribute leaflets can still distribute them in a face-to-face manner on a public street or door-to-door in a neighborhood and therefore the ordinance does not eliminate leaflets as a means of expression altogether. The Court further held that the ordinance advanced two significant government interests: 1) an interest in preventing littering and 2) an interest in preventing the use of private property in a manner not approved by the owner. We are considering whether to file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States seeking consideration of the case.