Supreme Court won't consider KKK litter cleanup case
Saturday, January 15, 2005 at 02:22AM
TheSpook
Missouri lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday over its decision to bar a
Ku Klux Klan group from a highway litter cleanup program. The court's
rejection, made without comment, means that the KKK chapter must be
allowed into Missouri's Adopt-A-Highway program, which is designed to
save money by using volunteers for garbage pickup. Volunteer groups are
publicly thanked with signs along the highway acknowledging their help.
Every state but Vermont has such a program. States supporting Missouri
in the appeal argued that the Supreme Court needed to intervene so that
states unwilling to partner with the KKK would not decide to abolish
their programs. The dispute involves a half-mile stretch of Missouri 21
near Potosi, a town of fewer than 3,000 in the eastern part of the
state. A KKK chapter sought permission to pick up trash along the road,
but was turned down because the program is not open to groups that
discriminate based on race or those that courts have said have a
history of violence. Missouri lawyers had argued that a sign marking
the KKK stretch of road could lead to more dumping, and could endanger
highway workers mistaken for Klan members. The Klan sued and won on
grounds that it had a First Amendment free speech right to participate. [more]
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