From Associated Press, link here: Court Won't Block KKK From Highway Cleanup
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.
In its appeal, Missouri attorney Erwin O. Switzer III said state leaders are "trying to avoid giving motorists the mistaken impression that the state has anything good to say about a horrific, racist group."
He argued that the case was about government speech, not speech of the group.
Robert Herman of St. Louis, the attorney for the KKK, said that the group wants to do its part in community service and to express "solidarity with the community."
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Missouri's "desire to exclude controversial organizations in order to prevent 'road rage' or public backlash on the highways against the adopters' unpopular beliefs is simply not a legitimate governmental interest that would support the enactment of speech-abridging regulations."
Texas Solicitor General R. Ted Cruz, who filed a brief on behalf of 10 states that backed Missouri, said that states unwilling to partner with the KKK may "forgo the economic benefits of having volunteers pick up tons of roadside trash each year." The 10 states are Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.
The case is Rahn v. Robb, 04-629.
While I can see some possibilities for the problems the state was concerned with, personally, I'd rather have the KKK out doing community service versus having them holding another of their hate filled rally's or meetings where they perhaps discuss yet another way to cause problems for those they would suppress.
It remains to be seen if the section of road they (the KKK) would be responsible for becomes a dumping ground, but if it does, then perhaps the state could go back and argue for revoking the KKK's rights to participate because of those actual problems, rather than the belief that problems may occur. And again, if they happen to be kept busy on the task, then great. It'll give people a chance to see (for the most part) who the KKK is, so they'll know who not to do business with, and who not to associate with.
Oh, I should also add that the state should not be in any way prevented from putting up several disclaimer signs that note that they in absolutely no way support the KKK (or any other participant in the adopt-a-highway plan for that matter), and do not encourage any dumping along the roadway. (Perhaps a reminder that littering is against the law). They should be able to do that fairly easily, and still be able to satisfy all of the requirements that the courts seem to be putting on them.
