Yes, Door-to-Door Canvassing Is Protected Speech

You don’t have to answer the door, but a
solicitor’s right to knock is protected by the First Amendment, as
a
federal court reaffirmed this week. The case comes from an
Indiana town that tried to ban door-to-door canvassing,
fundraising, and peddling before 9 a.m. and “after the hour of 9
p.m. or sunset, whichever is earlier.” The community also
sought to make all canvassers obtain a permit, which would cost
$150 to apply for and $50 per week to maintain.  

The Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) of Indiana—a nonprofit
that relies on field canvassing for about 25 percent of its
revenue—brought the lawsuit in 2013 with the help of the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana. The group alleged that the
community of Yorktown’s requirements significantly limited CAC’s
ability to exercise its First Amendment rights. Evenings are when
CAC canvassers are most likely to find individuals home, it noted,
and yet the town’s rules would prohibit all evening canvassing
during certain times of year, when dusk can come as early as 5 p.m.
CAC also said the canvasser permit fees were prohibitively
expensive. Overall, Yorktown’s ordinance was not narrowly tailored
to serve legitimate public safety and privacy interests, the groups
alleged. 

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
agreed. “Without any substantive evidence establishing an increase
in the crime rate due to door-to-door solicitation,”
wrote Judge Richard Young in his decision, “the Town fails to
show how canvassing after sunset but before 9:00 p.m. poses any
greater threat to its citizens than any other person who may come
to a resident’s door after dark.” 

As for infringing on residents’ right to privacy, Young noted
that the town could easily accomodate “the unwilling listener’s
interest” with a much less restrictive policy. “For example, the
Town Council could include non-commercial advocates in the list of
persons to whom a ‘No Peddlers or Solicitors’ sign is applicable,”
he noted. In addition, an unwilling party could practice the
time-honored tradition of simply not answering the door. 

“Door-to-door canvassing has long played a vital role for the
dissemination of ideas in our country,”
said Gavin M. Rose, a senior staff attorney with ACLU of
Indiana, in a statement. “We are pleased that the Court
recognized that the ability of government at any level to interfere
with this activity is severely limited, and hope that this ruling
will educate other municipalities that might consider similar
legislation.”