City of Brandon, Mississippi

Rule Changes

Defendant; must now defend the ordinance on First Amendment merits

For three decades, a legal rule called the Heck bar let cities enforce questionable speech ordinances with near-impunity: once someone was convicted under such a law, they effectively lost the ability to challenge it in federal court. On March 20, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that this shield doesn't apply when the person is simply asking a court to stop future enforcement — not to undo a past conviction.

Updated Yesterday