Question

To help reduce a rising crime rate among teenage boys in a city, a scout leader decided to organize an overnight jamboree to get teens interested in scouting. The scout leader met with the city’s parks commissioner and requested a permit to camp at a large city park located on the oceanfront. The parks commissioner told the scout leader that a city ordinance prohibited large organized use of the park during the evening and all overnight camping. The commissioner explained that the city wished to keep the park open for general use during the evening, when most people were off work, and the park was cleaned overnight. The scout leader brought an action in federal district court, seeking to compel the city to allow overnight camping for this one special occasion. If the court determines that the ordinance is valid, what will be the basis for its decision?A The ordinance is rationally related to a legitimate government interest and burdens the First Amendment rights involved no more than is reasonable under the circumstances.
B The ordinance is narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative channels of communication.
C The ordinance is substantially related to a legitimate government interest and burdens the First Amendment rights involved no more than is reasonable under the circumstances.
D The ordinance is rationally related to a legitimate government interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative channels of communication.

Answer 1

Answer:

B The ordinance is narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative channels of communication.

Explanation:

The court will base its decision on its determination that the ordinance is narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative channels of communication. While the First Amendment protects the freedoms of speech and assembly, the government may reasonably regulate speech-related conduct in public forums through content‑neutral time, place, and manner regulation. Here, the ban on camping overnight in the park, a content-neutral regulation of a public forum, would be evaluated by the court based on if the ordinance is narrowly tailored to serve an important government interest and does not unreasonably limit alternative channels of communication. In this scenario, the question would be if the ban on the use of the park will limit alternative channels of communicating the message of the scout leader and if yes the ban may be lifted and if not, it will not be lifted.