High Court to examine Minnesota law banning all political speech near polls

  Pure political speech represents the core type of speech the First Amendment was designed to protect. A case this term, Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, before the U.S. Supreme Court will test the Justices’ commitment to this principle.

  A Minnesota law forbids voters from wearing a “political badge, political button, or other political insignia . . . at or about the polling place on primary or election day.”

  The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, reasoning that a polling place is a nonpublic forum instead of a traditional, designated or limited public forum where free-speech rights are greater. Under the Court’s public forum doctrine, restrictions on speech in nonpublic forums are constitutional if the restrictions are viewpoint neutral and reasonable.