Condoms Not Protected Speech

Condom wrappers featuring President Obama and others, accompanied by political jokes, are not covered under the Constitutional protection of free speech, a New York appeals court has ruled. The condom wrappers featured Obama, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton and others. Obama’s wrapper read: “Hope is not a form of protection.” “We reject (the vendor’s) contention that he was engaged in constitutionally protected speech, exempt from the licensing requirements of the general vending law, because the condoms were contained in packages containing political messages,” the ruling states. The vendor, Jose Andjuar, was arrested three times in 2010-2011 for selling the condoms in Times Square, and has fought for five years to see his wares declared protected speech. But the court disagreed, writing that the condom packaging cannot “be equated with the ‘newspapers, periodicals, books (and) pamphlets’ specifically exempted by … the vending ordinance.”