EXHAUSTED

Honking a Car Horn Is Not Free Speech, Court Rules

A federal lawsuit claimed a woman honking in support of an anti-Trump protest should have been protected by the First Amendment.

A woman who was ticketed after honking her car horn in support of an anti-Trump protest has lost a lawsuit arguing that her actions should have been protected political speech. Susan Porter beeped her car horn as she passed a demonstration in California criticizing Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for supporting Trump in October 2017 and was given a ticket by a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy shortly after on the grounds of breaching a state law concerning the misuse of car horns. Although Porter’s citation was dismissed in 2018, she filed a federal lawsuit the same year arguing that the California law was unconstitutional. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled against her, saying the First Amendment doesn’t protect Californians using their vehicles’ horns to express a political point.