Excerpt from: Motorcycle Lawyer
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| May 03, 2007 | | Group excluded from Gilroy Event | Members of the Top Hatters Motorcycle Club went to the 2000 Gilroy garlic festival, and were escorted out under a festival dress code rule that prohibited wearing gang colors, or motorcycle club insignia. They were asked to remove their club vests, that carried a top hat, skull, and other images.
The case was tossed out in the trial court by a judge who found that there was no triable case, and last week the federal court of appeals also turned them down.
The club claimed that they had a freedom of expression right to wear the vests. However, when questioned under oath, the club members differed in their explanation of what the images meant. One of them described one of the images by saying, "it means what you want it to mean".
As a result, the court reasoned that the images weren't really trying to express anything, other than club membership. Therefore, freedom of expression was not violated.
The club also claimed that their freedom of expressive association was involved, and that the club was formed to promote goodwill among disparate community groups, and to do charity work.
Because there was no evidence presented that the club ever actually did promote good will among disparate community groups, or that it actually did charity work, the court also found that the group's expressive association was not impinged upon.
I found the case interesting, but because there were so few facts presented, I can't honestly say that the ruling meant much to me. However, you can be sure that the case will be used as precedent from here on in, and that event organizers will be enforcing dress codes more forcefully this summer.
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