ACLU expects to sue Youngstown if loitering law approved

YOUNGSTOWN

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio likely would sue Youngstown if city council approves a proposed anti-loitering ordinance.

“I anticipate we’d be filing a lawsuit, but we first have to look at what’s adopted by council,” said Joseph Mead, an attorney who works on behalf of the ACLU.

The organization sent a letter Wednesday to city council and Mayor John A. McNally, who is sponsoring the ordinance, advising the legislative body to reject the proposal because it gives too much discretion to police officers to target the homeless and is unconstitutional.

“This ordinance uses vague language to give law enforcement power to harass and arrest whomever they choose,” Mead said. “It is shocking how much innocent behavior would become illegal under this proposal.”

In the letter, Avidan Cover, an associate professor at Case Western University School of Law, and Doron Kalir, clinical professor at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Civil Litigation Clinic, wrote the proposal is “fatally flawed.

“The proposed ordinance is so vague as to leave citizens without any idea of what behavior is prohibited and fails to meaningfully limit police discretion. Indeed, that appears to be the goal: to potentially sweep in a huge amount of innocent and everyday behavior and then expect the police to enforce the law discriminatorily and arbitrarily against people [rather than behavior] subjectively viewed as undesirable.”

City council postponed a vote June 15.

Read more about the measure and the city's plans in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.