Mayor Tom Menino, who caused a civil-liberties uproar last month when he proposed banning the sale of T-shirts emblazoned with STOP SNITCHIN’, appears to have learned a lesson in free speech. If only the same could be said of Chief Justice Robert A. Mulligan, of the Commonwealth’s Trial Court.
On January 10, Mulligan stepped in where the mayor had wisely begged off: he promulgated a rule banning the infamous T-shirts from the state’s courtrooms. Such a rule is likely unconstitutional. Instead of limiting the sartorial prohibition to any garment bearing a message that could reasonably be interpreted as a threat or that likely would disrupt court proceedings — which the Constitution’s First Amendment would clearly allow — the chief justice banned shirts delivering a perfectly lawful political message critical of the much-abused informant system.
Within a few days of Chief Justice Mulligan’s announcement, Boston’s mayor indicated that he got the message urged by Freedom Watch (“Shirting the Issue,” This Just In, December 9): to fight the “negative” T-shirt with a more positive counter-message. Apparently, Menino thought better of sending in the brownshirts to seize the “Stop Snitchin’” and other anti-informant shirts being sold (and widely bought) in Boston — a clearly unconstitutional suppression of speech that would have exposed the city to lawsuits galore. Instead, he simply jaw-boned shirt merchants for their voluntary cooperation. As a result, the Boston Globe was able to report on Sunday, the mayor basked in triumph as T-shirt designer and merchant Antonio Ennis, of Dorchester, began selling a new “Start Peace” substitute. The lesson — that the response to “bad speech” is “good speech” rather than excessively broad state-imposed censorship — seems to have gotten through to His Honor the Mayor but, curiously, not to His Honor the Chief Justice.
Related:
$50 million worth of mistakes, Five keys for BPD’s new top cop, Artists get the shaft, More 
- $50 million worth of mistakes
Mistakes by Boston city workers — especially the police — have cost the city more than $50 million over the past four years. The breakdown: Inside the "Oops" fund. By David S. Bernstein Among the uninsured: How other cities handle their mistakes. By David S. Bernstein
- Five keys for BPD’s new top cop
Edward Davis was always the obvious choice for Mayor Tom Menino’s next police commissioner.
- Artists get the shaft
On a tour of the studios at 337 Summer Street, Jen Mecca, a textile artist, points out some of the spaces recently vacated by artists and craftsmen, including a pair of furniture makers who left for Somerville.
- Crunching numbers
By their own admission, it is during budget season that Boston’s city councilors wield the most power.
- Menino's junked mail
Two years ago, when I wrote a column griping about the Boston media's apathy-inducing disinterest in city politics, Boston Globe metro editor Brian McGrory told me his paper had given the lackluster 2007 elections as much coverage as they deserved, but hinted that things would be different in 2009.
- Why ban smoking?
This editorial originally appeared in the February 20, 1998 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
- What to pay the mayor
Boston pays Mayor Tom Menino $150,000 a year. It pays city councilors $75,000. Is that enough?
- The pain hits home
With unsuccessful wars running in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the worst economic crisis in almost 80 years likely to get worse long before it gets better, Barack Obama will face challenges of historic proportions when he becomes the nation's 44th president next week.
- Read the runes
As a user of the special collections at the Boston Public Library, I have been appalled at the light coverage of key service desks necessitated by staff cuts over the past several years.
- Media Moses
Bruce Wall is blessed with a talent for publicity.
- James M. Kelly, R.I.P.
Consider, for a moment, two of the many compliments paid to South Boston political icon Jimmy Kelly following his death from cancer Tuesday morning.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, Politics, Local Politics, Tom Menino
