Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause Violation

By: Derek Hawkins//November 20, 2017//

Listen to this article

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Sonoku Tagami v. City of Chicago, et al.

Case No.: 16-1441

Officials: EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause Violation

Sonoku Tagami celebrated “GoTopless Day 2014” by walking around the streets of Chicago naked from the waist up, though wearing “opaque” body paint on her bare breasts. She was cited for violating a Chicago ordinance prohibiting public nudity. She responded with this lawsuit alleging that the ordinance is unconstitutional. She contends that banning women from exposing their breasts in public violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and amounts to an impermissible sex-based classification in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The district court dismissed the suit and we affirm.

Affirmed

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

Select Region or Brand

Upcoming Event