Red Tape: navigating the permit process

PERMIT ORDINANCES

When do I need a permit?

Whether you're marching on city hall, holding a candlelight vigil, or rallying outside the statehouse or a private business, you should check your local permit ordinance before you put on your marching shoes and pull out the megaphone.
While regulations vary, here are some guidelines:
• The government can't prohibit marches on public sidewalks or streets, or rallies in most public parks or plazas. But it can often require a permit to regulate competing uses of the area and to ensure you respect reasonable time, place and manner restrictions.
• You shouldn’t need a permit for demonstrations that don't "realistically present serious traffic, safety, and competing-use concerns beyond those presented on a daily basis by ordinary use of the streets and sidewalks." If you hold a small rally in a public park or march on on the sidewalk and obey traffic laws, you generally won’t need a permit.

When should I apply for my permit?

Most permit ordinances require that an application be submitted a few days in advance, so be sure to give officials sufficient notice. But advance notice periods should be days, not weeks, and there should be an exception to allow demonstrations in response to breaking news. Some activists have successfully challenged ordinances that fail to meet these standards.

OVERBOARD ORDINANCES

When is an ordinance invalid?

An ordinance is invalid if it's unreasonably or unnecessarily burdensome, if it prevents you from communicating your message, or if it's selectively enforced. Remember: the government can’t discriminate against you for the content of your speech. This means that city officials may not impose additional burdens or costs on you because your message is controversial.

When can the city deny my permit?

A municipality must have precise and specific standards for denying a permit. An ordinance with no standards, or with vague standards such as "will not disturb others" or "in the public interest" or "in the interest of vehicular or pedestrian traffic safety" gives individual officials too much discretion. Such an ordinance is unconstitutional and you can't be lawfully punished for violating it. If the government denies you a permit for expressive activity, it should tell you why it has done so.

Can the city tell me to change my route?

The government may impose reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of your event in order to reduce the amount of disruption it will cause. However, a demonstration should be allowed to take place within "sight and sound" of its intended audience. You can challenge efforts to re-route your march away from busy crowds or main streets or to dictate when it must start and end—because you can't communicate your message if there's nobody to hear it.

What if past marches have turned violent?

The government can't deny a permit just because past demonstrations by your group or others ended in civil disobedience or a disorderly brawl. Likewise, officials can't ask you to promise that protesters will obey the law before agreeing to issue your permit.

Can the city ask me to cover the costs of my protest?

Cities may charge for the actual costs of a demonstration, including the costs of processing permits, traffic control, certain narrow insurance requirements and some clean-up costs, but you may challenge excessive fees. Groups have successfully challenged burdensome fees by arguing that:

• The fee or costs have been imposed or increased because the content of the event is controversial and may provoke counter-demonstrations or require more police;
• The city's interests can be adequately protected without the fees;
• The regulation doesn't include a waiver for groups that can’t afford the charges and have no other way to publicize their views; or
• There's no justification for imposing liability on demonstrators because liability should

You should consult an attorney or contact the ACLU's advice line. Although the ACLU cannot provide legal services to all callers, our civil liberties counselors, in consultation with our attorneys, can provide you with helpful information and referrals.

"Every person may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press."

—Article I, Section 2 of the California Constitution 

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