WASHINGTON - In a one sentence order released yesterday afternoon,the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case of Johnson v. Steelers Nation. The writ of certiorari filed by Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver Chad Johnson asks the Court to vacate an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Order prohibiting him from setting fire to a Terrible Towel.Johnson, acting as his own attorney, asserted that the order is an"unreasonable intrusion on his first amendment freedom of expression, as well as an unnecessary restriction on his Constitutional right to taunt, torment, and insult the citizens of Pittsburgh."
Minutes after receiving the news that Johnson's case would be heard, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl summoned City Council back to chambers for an emergency session. Ravenstahl introduced legislation making it a capital offense, punishable by death, to "defile, burn, desecrate, or do harm" to a Terrible Towel within ten miles of Heinz Field. The radius expands to fifty miles when the Steelers are playing a home game. Council passed the legislation on a unanimous vote in less than fifteen seconds, and Ravenstahl immediately signed it into law.
ACLU attorney Witold "Vic" Walczak predicted theTowel-burning ban would never withstand the lawsuits that his group, and others, will surely file. "If you're going to ban TerribleTowel-burning, where do you stop?" asked Walczak. "The Mona Lisa? The Shroud of Turin?"
The case will be heard during the Court's October session.
