Supreme Court OKs campaign insignia at polls

Published June 15, 2018 This content is archived.

An article in Smithsonian about a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a century-old law that prohibited voters from wearing politics buttons, badges and other political insignia inside polling places interviews James Gardner, Bridget and Thomas Black Professor in the UB School of Law, who criticized how seriously the court considered First Amendment interests in the case, advocating instead for the importance of keeping campaigns out of the voting booth. Gardner sided with the dissent, saying that the proper constitutional decision is clear. “The First Amendment interests at stake are trivial,” he said. “Why do you have to wear campaign slogans into the campaign place? The only reason I can think of is influencing another person’s opinion.”