The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Homelessness Law Center successfully challenged two Alabama statutes that made it a crime to hold signs on public streets communicating messages of public need and concern. The district court found that the statues violated the First Amendment and permanently enjoined the state from enforcing the laws. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision and found that asking for help is protected under the First Amendment.
In 2020, the SPLC and co-counsel filed suit against the city of Montgomery, the sheriff of Montgomery County and Hal Taylor, the secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, on behalf of Jonathan Singleton and a class of people who hold signs soliciting help on public streets and roadways. The challenged laws made it illegal for anyone to ask for financial assistance and subjected those who did to the possibility of fines or jail time.
In 2020, Singleton settled his lawsuit with the city after it agreed to stop arresting or fining people who asked for financial assistance, to drop all outstanding charges against those who had been charged in the Montgomery Municipal Court and to waive any outstanding fines or fees owed. He later settled with Derrick Cunningham, the sheriff of Montgomery County, who also agreed not to enforce the laws.
The district court later found that the laws violated the First Amendment and permanently enjoined Taylor, the sole remaining defendant, from enforcing them. The 11th Circuit affirmed the district court’s permanent injunction. The state of Alabama twice sought en banc review before the full 11th Circuit. The 11th Circuit twice declined to take the case en banc.
After the 11th declined to hear the case en banc, the state filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 2, 2026, the court denied the state’s petition.
