According to the Bangor News Daily, "The Maine Civil Liberties Union wants Santa’s Butt in beer coolers by Christmas." In fact, what they (the ACLU) appear to be fighting over is whether the State of Maine can stop a beer producer from selling a beer that bares Santa's bottom on the label (see picture to the left). American Constitutional Law students will learn that the courts generally take a rather broad view concerning what constitutes "free speech." When the government prohibits a beer producer from using a particular label does that violate the First Amendment's Freedom of Speech provision? Probably. In Missouri, where I worked for the ACLU before coming to Germany, my office worked on a similar case. In this instance the beer producer used reproductions of classic nude paintings on his labels. The State of Missouri refused to grant him a liquor license to sell his beer unless he changed the label. The government finally backed down when we pointed out that the "obscene" label was a reproduction of a famous painting that hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
04 December 2006
Santa's Butt Raises First Amendment Issue
According to the Bangor News Daily, "The Maine Civil Liberties Union wants Santa’s Butt in beer coolers by Christmas." In fact, what they (the ACLU) appear to be fighting over is whether the State of Maine can stop a beer producer from selling a beer that bares Santa's bottom on the label (see picture to the left). American Constitutional Law students will learn that the courts generally take a rather broad view concerning what constitutes "free speech." When the government prohibits a beer producer from using a particular label does that violate the First Amendment's Freedom of Speech provision? Probably. In Missouri, where I worked for the ACLU before coming to Germany, my office worked on a similar case. In this instance the beer producer used reproductions of classic nude paintings on his labels. The State of Missouri refused to grant him a liquor license to sell his beer unless he changed the label. The government finally backed down when we pointed out that the "obscene" label was a reproduction of a famous painting that hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
