Another entry into the case file of frivolous local regulations on entrepreneurs:
Nick Nefedro, previously of Key West, Fla., said county officials violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and discriminated against his Roma, or Gypsy, culture when they refused to give him a business license to open a foretune-telling shop in Bethesda. Montgomery code dating back to the early 1950s prohibits collecting cash for predicting the future....
...Clifford Royalty, an attorney for Montgomery County, told The Examiner the court upheld the law and he expected a judge to return a signed copy of his written order this week.
“Insofar as the county law does regulate speech, it is narrowly drawn to serve the county’s compelling government interest in protecting its citizenry from fraud,” Royalty’s order said.
I realize that this is a slightly harder case than some other examples because almost no one likes bogus psychics and soothsayers. I certainly would never spend money on them. At the same time, I am not willing to say that these businesses do not have a right to exist if some people do want to spend their money on them. To say that the local government needs to "protect" its citizens from the "fraud" perpetrated by these businesses is giving the fortune tellers too much credit, and its customers too little credit. These customers know what they are getting into when they sit in front of the tarot cards or a crystal ball--if it makes them feel a little bit better, and a local business benefits, who is really being hurt in that exchange?
Reader Comments Read all comments (7)
Jim of SC 7:34PM February 14, 2009
FraudTech of WI 3:30PM December 20, 2008
Lu of 10:29AM December 19, 2008