The Center for
Individual Freedom has filed an amicus curiae brief with
the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Ronald P. White's petition
asking the Court to hear his case.
White
is a tattoo artist convicted under a South Carolina statute banning
and criminalizing the art of tattooing. Under the restriction, tattooing
is only permissible when medically necessary, and then only a licensed
physician or surgeon may engage in the practice. White continues
to challenge both his conviction and the statute on the grounds
that banning the art of tattooing violates his constitutionally
protected right of free expression. He is represented in the U.S.
Supreme Court by Kenneth W. Starr, Daryl Joseffer, and Ryan Phair
of Kirkland & Ellis and Jared S. Newman of Newman & McDougall.
The Center's
brief argues that freedom of expression protected under the First
Amendment extends to all artistic expression without regard to message
conveyed or medium employed by the artist. It also stresses that
restrictions burdening constitutionally protected expression are
not exempt from scrutiny under the First Amendment simply because
they further the State's interest in public health and safety. Moreover,
the brief points out that forty-eight other states have been able
to protect the health and safety of their citizens without banning
and criminalizing the art of tattooing.
As written
in the Center's brief, "If painting and verse, and even an offensive
slogan emblazoned on a jacket, are 'unquestionably shielded' by
the First Amendment's freedom of expression, then so, too, must
the tattoo art created by Petitioner Ronald P. White. After all, the only difference between the Petitioner's art and
the 'unquestionably shielded' painting, verse, and slogan is the
medium employed by the artist. [White] has simply chosen to execute
his art on the skin of individuals who commission the art rather
than on canvas or paper. . . . Therefore, this Court's intervention
is necessary to establish that the First Amendment's protection
of an individual's right of artistic expression extends beyond particularized
messages conveyed via traditional media."
To download the Centers brief, click here.
August 20, 2002