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The ACLU of Ohio has a proud history of defending Ohioans’ civil
liberties. A Youngstown chapter was formed in 1920, right around
the same time that the national ACLU was organized. Over the last
nine decades, the Ohio ACLU has litigated to protect free speech rights,
privacy, due process, nondiscrimination laws, and reproductive rights,
for instance. The affiliate has an especially strong tradition in
First Amendment cases.
Here are some of the historic cases argued by the Ohio ACLU over the
years. We will add to this listing as time for research permits.
Obviously, older cases present greater research challenges.
Links to the decisions are provided where it was possible.
Decisions may also be located on restricted access databases such as
Westlaw or LexisNexis. Most Ohioans with a library card can access
Lexis Nexis for free, through OhioLink. Contact your local library
for details.
Special thanks goes to University of Toledo student Jessica Deese of
Bay Village, Ohio, who researched and summarized these cases in December
2006.
If you have suggestions or comments about this webpage, please send
an email to
contact@acluohio.org.
Brown v. Socialist Workers Party (1982)
According to 3517.10 of the Ohio Revised Code, candidates for political
office must disclose all contributors and recipients of campaign funds.
The Socialist Workers Party had been regularly running candidates for
office but refused to disclose their finances because the names and
addresses of contributors and recipients would be public record for six
years, submitting these individuals to potential threats and harassment.
In 1974, the Socialist Workers Party, represented by ACLU attorneys
Tom Buckley, Gordon Beggs, Ben
Sheerer, Stanley Laughlin and Bruce
Campbell, filed a class action suit in district court against
then Attorney General William J. Brown. They
argued that applying Ohio’s Campaign Expense Reporting Law to minor
political parties violated their First Amendment rights. The
government cannot compel speech which might result in threats or
harassment.
The District Court for the Northern District of Ohio issued a temporary
restraining order allowing the Socialist Workers Party to withhold
campaign funds information. The Southern District Court issued a
similar restraining order.
Attorney General Brown appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which
affirmed that Ohio’s campaign reporting law violated the First Amendment
rights of the Socialist Workers Party.
Read the
decision on FindLaw.
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995)
In April of 1988, Westerville citizen Margaret McIntyre
distributed leaflets at a public meeting hosted by Beldon Middle School,
expressing her objections to a proposed school tax levy. However,
she failed to write her name and address on the leaflets she
distributed, which violated section 3599.09(A) of the Ohio Code.
The Ohio Elections Commission fined McIntyre $100. Represented by
the ACLU attorney David Goldberger, she obtained a
reversal of the fine in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The court
found that McIntyre had not misled the public, since there was no
evidence that any information on the leaflets was false. The Ohio
Elections Commission appealed; the Ohio Court of Appeals reinstated the
fine, which was affirmed by the Ohio Supreme Court. The ACLU
appealed the decision, and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a victory for free speech, the high court affirmed the ACLU’s
argument that banning anonymous speech can serve to chill the expression
of controversial viewpoints.
Read the
decision on FindLaw.
Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995)
In December of 1993 members of the Ku Klux Klan applied to the State of
Ohio’s Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) to place an
unattended cross in a public park across from the Statehouse. Over
the years, displays of Christmas trees and menorahs by private groups
had been permitted. Nonetheless, the State denied the Klan’s
request, asserting that it would violate the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment, since a religious symbol would be displayed on
government property, suggesting an endorsement of a particular faith.
ACLU attorney Benson Wolman represented Vincent J. Pinette
and the Klan. The District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
ruled that the State should allow the Klan to erect the cross, since it
was a private organization protected by the First Amendment. The
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision, but the State
appealed.
The ACLU prevailed when the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which
ruled that no violation of the Establishment Clause had occurred,
because the display was installed by a private organization in a
traditionally public forum.
Read the
decision on FindLaw.
Charon v. Memorial Hospital, later captioned Howe v. Hull (1995)
Fred Charon, an AIDS patient from Portland, Maine, was
traveling through Ohio in 1992 when he became ill and was taken to
Memorial Hospital in Fremont. Dr. Charles Hull
refused to admit him due to his AIDS status. Charon was then taken
45 minutes west to Medical College Hospital in Toledo, where he was
admitted.
Charon filed suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in an
attempt to extend the ADA’s anti-discrimination provisions to persons
with AIDS. The ACLU also asserted claims under the Federal
Rehabilitation Act, which states that any hospital receiving federal aid
cannot discriminate against the disabled.
Unfortunately, Fred Charon died in March of 1993, but the court allowed
the case to proceed under his estate, represented by Charon’s partner
Bruce Howe.
A jury heard the case in district court in June 1994, which agreed with
the ACLU’s argument that Memorial Hospital had violated the Federal
Rehabilitation Act. Charon’s estate was awarded $512,000 in
damages.
District court Judge John Potter himself ruled on the
ADA claims in November 1994, concurring with the ACLU that Dr. Hull’s
actions violated the ADA setting a precedent that the ADA applied to
people with AIDS.
Howe v. Hull, Case No. 3:92CV7658, U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio, Western Division, 873 F. Supp. 70; 1994 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 21064, May 26, 1994, filed.
Coles v. Cleveland Board of Education (1999)
In 1992 the Cleveland Board of Education began to open each of their
meetings with a moment of silent prayer, led by a minister or by the
board president. One student, Sarah Coles, and
one teacher, Gene Tracy, disagreed with the practice.
Represented by ACLU legal director at the time, Joan Englund,
and volunteer attorney Josh Cohen, they filed suit in
December 1992, arguing that the prayer violated the Establishment Clause
of the First Amendment as well as Article I, Section 7 of the Ohio
Constitution, which says that no person should be forced to attend a
place of worship or be forced to worship against his or her will.
A magistrate judge found that reciting a prayer and the moment of silent
prayer were unconstitutional. The District Court for the Northern
District of Ohio then found that while the prayer recitation itself was
unconstitutional, a moment of silent prayer was not, due to a history of
prayer in this country. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals then
reversed this decision, saying that calling for a moment of silent
prayer violates the Establishment Clause because it sends a message of
government endorsement of religion
Coles v. Cleveland Board of Education, 97-3082/97-3104, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 183 F.3d 538; 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS
14986, June 11, 1999, filed.
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