UPDATE: On Wednesday, Mayor E. "Ben" Zahn III rescinded his policy barring the city of Kenner's booster clubs from buying or accepting delivery of Nike products at the city's recreation facilities.
The mayor of Kenner, Louisiana, doesn鈥檛 seem to like Colin Kaepernick much. He also doesn鈥檛 seem too happy that the sports merchandise juggernaut Nike made Kaepernick the face of its new 鈥淒ream Crazy鈥� campaign. But instead of simply expressing his personal opinion, he鈥檚 trying to use the power of his public office to prevent others from expressing their support for Colin Kaepernick.
And that鈥檚 unconstitutional.
On September 5, Kenner Mayor E. 鈥淏en鈥� Zahn III issued a memorandum prohibiting private booster clubs operating at Kenner recreation facilities from buying or accepting delivery of any product with the company鈥檚 famous swoosh symbol. 鈥淯nder no circumstances,鈥� the memo reads, 鈥渨ill any Nike product or any product with the Nike logo be purchased for use or delivery at any City of Kenner Recreation Facility.鈥� Under the new policy, the city鈥檚 director of parks and recreation must approve any athletic product or apparel before a booster club can purchase them.
On Wednesday, the 老澳门开奖结果 and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Louisiana sent a letter to Mayor Zahn informing him that his actions violate the First Amendment and advising him to rescind his policy immediately. We have taken this action because Zahn鈥檚 policy violates the First Amendment鈥檚 prohibition on content and viewpoint discrimination. It prevents booster clubs from purchasing Nike鈥檚 products based solely on the mayor鈥檚 opposition to Nike鈥檚 political expression.
How do we know this? Because Zahn said so himself.
After his policy caused a furor both locally and nationally, the mayor issued a follow-up statement on September 11. According to Zahn, he implemented his Nike ban because the company, 鈥渋n its zeal to sell shoes, chose to promote and sell a political message.鈥� The mayor couldn鈥檛 be any clearer. His policy is directed at the political message communicated by Nike and those who wear Nike apparel.
And no one should lose sight of what that message is. Kaepernick lost his job as a quarterback in the NFL because he has the temerity to kneel during the national anthem. Kaepernick has that he took a knee to protest rampant police brutality and discrimination against people of color across the United States. By doing so, he sparked the 鈥淭ake-a-Knee鈥� movement, which .
Zahn argues that his policy is an attempt 鈥渙nly to protect taxpayer dollars from being used in a political campaign.鈥� This argument falls flat. While Kenner booster clubs receive city funds, they also raise their money from private sources, and the city has no legitimate interest in dictating which companies, causes, or 鈥減olitical agendas鈥� booster clubs may support with their own money.
There is only one plausible conclusion for the mayor鈥檚 actions: He is trying to stop booster clubs from symbolically expressing their support for political views the mayor detests. That鈥檚 a textbook First Amendment violation.
Mayor Zahn, rescind your unconstitutional policy. Just do it.
