Tattoos Receive First Amendment Protection

As a happily tattooed librarian, yesterday’s post on Media Law Prof Blog naturally caught my eye. The blog reports on a recent Ninth Circuit decision—Anderson v. City of Hermosa Beach—that has held a municipal ban on tattoo parlors unconstitutional. The judges reasoned that tattooing is a purely expressive activity akin to writing that is thus entitled to First Amendment protection. The judges further stated that the city’s total ban on tattooing was not a reasonable “time, place, or manner” restriction on protected expression. The lengthy decision examines the legality of tattoos themselves, the process of tattooing, and the business of tattooing—and all three come out as fully protected by the First Amendment.