chanel
Silver Member
To some, they're body art. To others, they're hazards to health, morals and good taste.
But to a federal appeals court, tattoos are constitutionally protected free expression, and a city has no more right to ban tattoo parlors than to outlaw bookstores or newsstands.
"Tattooing is a process like writing words down or drawing a picture, except that it is performed on a person's skin," the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Thursday in striking down an anti-tattoo parlor law from the Los Angeles suburb of Hermosa Beach.
"A form of speech does not lose First Amendment protection based on the kind of surface it is applied to," said Judge Jay Bybee, writing for a unanimous panel of three Republican appointees.
Read more: Court: Tattoo parlors covered by 1st Amendment
NIMBY!!!!