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LIRA@BC Law

Abstract

Every year, more cities enact food sharing restrictions that punish individuals who try to feed the homeless. These laws are often part of a general scheme to solve a city’s homelessness problem by making life so unbearable for homeless men and women that they will be forced to move elsewhere. Humanitarian aid like food sharing, however, is a form of expressive conduct whereby the speaker communicates to a particular audience in need that he or she is willing to care for them. Additionally, the speaker’s conduct may inform observers about a particular humanitarian dilemma or encourage them to become involved. In United States v. Millis, the Ninth Circuit failed to recognize an act of humanitarian aid for traveling immigrants as a form of protected speech, thereby opening the door to the creation of more harmful and unfair laws that suppress humanitarian aid.

Files

File nameDate UploadedVisibilityFile size
8.pdf
7 Sep 2022
Public
170 kB

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Metadata

  • Subject
    • First Amendment

    • State and Local Government Law

  • Journal title
    • Boston College Third World Law Journal

  • Volume
    • 31

  • Issue
    • 2

  • Pagination
    • 439

  • Date submitted

    7 September 2022