While many Americans complain Christmas celebrations start too early, officials in Germantown, Maryland went even further—issuing citations to a resident for using her Halloween skeletons for Christmas decorations.
Germantown resident Alexis Luttrell has been summoned to appear in court on Feb. 13 for violating town ordinances by repurposing her Halloween skeleton and skeleton dog as Christmas decorations, local TV station WTTG reports. Local code prohibits residents from erecting holiday displays more than 45 days before the date and require them to be removed within 30 days after.
“It may seem trivial, but it’s a very frustrating thing not to be able to express myself because, quite frankly, I have already purchased decorations for pride month,” Luttrell, who has a law degree, tells WTTG. “I do everything as a resident; I vote and I take care of my yard. I do things I’m supposed to do. I’m not a nuisance, and the one thing I enjoy is being able to express something fun. I’ve lived in neighborhoods where we’ve done that.”
Luttrell has retained the nonprofit Institute for Justice to defend what she sees as her right to free speech.
“The whole idea behind free speech is that you get to choose what you want to put up to celebrate,” said Robert Frommer, an IJ senior attorney. “Officials shouldn’t get to block you from expressing yourself just because they dislike your reason for the season.”
IJ reports:
As WREG reported, Luttrell put a skeleton and a skeleton dog in her yard to commemorate Halloween. After Halloween passed, Luttrell repurposed the skeleton and skeleton dog so they could be integrated into her Christmas decorations. However, Germantown officials weren’t pleased and issued Luttrell a court summons, stating that her decorations violated city code. Germantown bans residents from installing holiday decorations more than 45 days before the date of the holiday and requires residents to remove seasonal decorations within 30 days after the holiday. Luttrell’s court date is set for Feb. 13.
Germantown’s enforcement actions violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A core principle of the First Amendment is that the government generally can’t discriminate against speech based on what it says or who put it up. And here, that includes the decorations that someone puts up to celebrate. The U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2015 decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, made clear that those kind of content-based regulations must serve the most compelling of government interests. Installing holiday decorations “too early” or keeping them up “too late” simply doesn’t fit the bill.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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From the article, she was summoned because the holiday decorations were installed before the 45 day period before a holiday – not that her decorations were a skeleton dog and man… unless the article is not giving all the information.
I agree with the town grinches. I don’t agree with mixing the holidays.