Week 1 News Post

Suit Is Filed Over Eviction of Food Truck at Racetrack

 

A food truck by the name of Wandering Dago was evicted from the Saratoga Race Course at the start of the racing season because of the ethnic slur in its name. (Dago is a slur for an Italian, Spanish or Portuguese speaking person). The New York Racing Association ordered the food truck off the premises in July, a suit was filed in August and is an ongoing First Amendment lawsuit. This case weighs the free speech rights of the vendors and the state's right to protect the public from the offensive name.  

This case questions the censoring of free speech by removing the truck of the premises and if the vendors’ First Amendment rights have been violated. Here are some thoughts and questions about this case:

Will this involve content-based or content-neutral laws? 

Which weighs more: the content, or the time, place, and manner of the food truck?

There was no compelling speech forced by the food truck or a forced audience.

Is the racetrack private property or a government space for public forum? If it is private property, it is still an open area used for public assembly and expression. The owner or owners of the property may have to allow the food truck’s free expression at the public gathering at the racetrack. 

Were there other food trucks or food establishments on the property at the same time? If so, then an argument against the food truck’s presence not catering to the primary purpose of the racetrack may not hold up. 

Will this case involve not only the content of the speech, but the speakers? The vendors are Italian-American. Do they have a right to this free speech regardless of their ethnicity?

This is an interesting case that raises many questions, concepts and previous cases discussed in chapter 2. The plaintiff and defendants will both bring interesting facts and previous rulings to the courtroom and the judge will have to interpret the First Amendment to make a decision about this food truck eviction.

Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/nyregion/suit-is-filed-over-eviction-of-food-truck-at-racetrack.html?ref=freedomofspeechandexpression
Link to photo: http://media.irishcentral.com/images/20130728070009Food-truck-Wandering-Dago.jpg