The Alabama Attorney General’s Office argued before a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. (Chris McLoughlin/Getty Images)
A panel of federal judges in Atlanta Wednesday heard arguments over whether an Alabama state law criminalizing begging could stand.
The arguments turned over prior precedents that have said begging as a form of free speech.
The Alabama Attorney General’s Office Wednesday asked the three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to find “room to maneuver” around those precedents to allow the state to enforce the law.
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“The court should rely on history and tradition,” Alabama Deputy Solicitor General Robert Overing said during oral arguments before the three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “That state doesn’t need a historical twin or a dead ringer. It needs some analog, some predecessor.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said doing that would throw out established law.