After being fined $100, ordered to perform more than 30 hours of community service, and finally handcuffed on her way to a relative’s house, Taisha Betancourt decided to protest her local curfew in the courts. A judge responded to her lawsuit by ordering her small town in West New York to temporarily suspend enforcement of the curfew until a final court ruling.
That means, right now, Taisha’s small town does not have a curfew.
Acting with her mother and legal representation of the ACLU, she has temporarily brought freedom to teenagers in her area just in time for Spring. Her story provides more proof that one person can have an impact on the lives of thousands.
If you decide you are also sick of threat of curfews and the inevitable pinch of handcuffs, you also have the right to ask the courts to curtail the unconstitutional impulses of intolerant politicians.
Taisha’s suit claims that the curfew is unconstitutional because it infringes on the rights of teenagers to assemble and move freely. The judge seemed to agree with that assertion. “What the judge recognized was that curfews directly prohibit the exercise of fundamental constitutional rights,” said David Rocah, an ACLU attorney, of yesterday’s order.
The judge has yet to issue a final ruling but his initial ruling may have an impact on another curfew case that is pending in a neighboring town. “Judge Greenberg certainly is a highly respected chancery judge, and I’m sure other judges pay attention to what he does,” Askin said.
Your town may also have a judge who has the same beliefs as Judge Greenberg.
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