A Louisiana contractor who displayed flags on his pickup expressing a graphic opinion of President Biden has sued the town of Grand Isle for repeatedly ticketing him for violations of the state’s obscenity law.
Plaintiff Ross Brunet, a resident of Cut Off, filed the January 24 federal complaint in the Eastern District of Louisiana, listing the town of Grand Isle, its mayor, police chief, city attorney and other officials as defendants.
Brunet was cited by Grand Isle police multiple times in 2021 and 2022 for violations of a state law prohibiting those operating motor vehicles on public streets from displaying “patently obscene words, photographs or depictions,” according to the complaint. The law defines obscenity as a display of “hard-core sexual conduct” that appeals to the prurient interest and lacks any kind of artistic, scientific or political relevance.
“Mr. Brunet’s flags do not meet the definition of this statute," the complaint states. "Mr. Brunet’s flags are clearly protected political speech."
Two flags on the plaintiff’s truck said, “F–- Biden,” followed by smaller lettering that says, “And f–- you for voting for him.”
Even though Brunet was found not guilty of violating the law in November 2021, he was stopped, detained and cited several more times in 2022 for the same violations, according to the complaint. And during the time when Brunet faced court delays during proceedings for the 2022 violations, Grand Isle passed its own ordinance saying temporary signs affixed to vehicles can’t be bigger than 20 inches by 30 inches and can’t contain vulgar language or language that describes a sex act.
“Mr. Brunet does contend that the ordinance is unconstitutional,” Katie Schwartzmann, director of the First Amendment Law Clinic at Tulane University School of Law, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “The town cannot place such content-based restrictions on flags.”
Schwartzmann is representing Brunet in the federal civil lawsuit.
“On information and belief, the ordinance was drafted and adopted by the town of Grand Isle to silence Mr. Brunet’s core political speech specifically, under the guidance and at instruction of the defendants,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint seeks an injunction to stop the town from interfering with what Brunet contends are his constitutional rights, compensatory, nominal and punitive damages, and attorney fees and costs incurred in the federal lawsuit.