A win for pesky salesmen

A federal appeals court this week upheld a preliminary injunction against parts of Pleasant Grove's ordinance regulating door-to-door sales. While this doesn't directly impact any of the several other lawsuits against solicitation ordinances in Utah, it was the third straight victory for the salesmen, which is likely not a good sign for the cities.

And that's a good thing.

There is an irony to the fact that 23 Utah cities plus Salt Lake County have passed tough ordinances against door-to-door sales. This state probably leads the nation in the number of families who send missionaries abroad to mostly go door-to-door spreading a religious message.

Of course, religious messages are distinct, legally and otherwise, from commercial messages. The U.S. Supreme Court has historically placed commercial speech in a separate category, and it has stood squarely behind the right to spread religion. For example, three years ago it ruled 8-1 that the village of Straton, Ohio, could not keep Jehovah's Witnesses from distributing their tracts.

But the legal distinctions have little bearing on the reality of door-to-door messages. Most hurried 21st century Americans wouldn't see much different between a vacuum-cleaner salesman and a missionary. Until they listen to the message, people tend to see only an intrusion on their day. Spreading the message, however, is a matter of free speech, and it should remain that way even if the message is a commercial one.

People have the ability, without much effort, to hang signs that warn away solicitors. That fact was not lost on the court. Neither was the fact that ordinances regulating solicitors do not provide citizens much protection.

Protection seems to be the impetus behind many of these misguided efforts. People worry that murderers, rapists, burglars and other miscreants disguise themselves as sales representatives to gain access to a home. But even law-enforcement people say such crimes are rare, and they doubt whether criminals would bother to obtain a license or post a bond before terrorizing a neighborhood.

Pleasant Grove's ordinance required a $1,000 bond for each salesman, as well as the submission of fingerprints. It also still requires a $100 fee that, until recently, the city was enforcing as a weekly, rather than annual, fee. Officials have backed off that one, claiming they misunderstood the ordinance as written.

But the intent seems to be to make this type of selling prohibitively expensive. Other cities have tried the more direct approach of banning door-to-door sales completely.

These are strange ordinances to come from Utah cities. We hope the courts continue to find them illegal as well.