Norton v. City of Springfield, Illinois

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying plaintiffs’ request for issuance of preliminary injunction to enjoin defendant-City from enforcing its anti-panhandling ordinance that barred plaintiffs from making oral requests for immediate donations of money in “historic district” of its downtown area. While plaintiffs argued that ordinance violated their First Amendment rights as being improper restriction based on content of their speech, instant ordinance was content-neutral, since requests for money did not express ideas about politics or topics to which govt. sought to suppress expression. Moreover, ordinance was indifferent to reasons for seeking money. Fact that ordinance allowed plaintiffs to make non-verbal requests for money did not make instant ordinance impermissibly content-based. (Dissent filed.)