Ever seen a sign saying “Loitering Forbidden by Law?” No-Loitering Sign - Violates Our Rights
Intimidating right?
Well that’s the intent. Property owners and police prefer that you don’t hang around.
You might be surprised to learn you have a Constitutional Right to Loiter that those property owners hope you don’t understand.
Here’s a New York Times article about the Supreme Court striking down Chicago’s loitering laws. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E2DD1738F932A25755C0A96F958260 )
This case was opposed by 31 states. Thirty one states strongly oppose your right to loiter, but they lost. That does not mean they learned the error of their ways, apologized, and erased their Loitering laws – of which there are thousands.
No, police and private property owners will still try to intimidate you into leaving on their whim – which in California leaves them liable to you suing them for violating your rights.
References:
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/assembly/topic.aspx?topic=freedom_association
