The ACLU of Tennessee has taken the case of Candice Wohlfeil, an East Ridge, Tennessee fortune teller, who is challenging the city's ordinance against fortune telling. Three years ago, the city first told her she was in violation of the ordinance. In 2008, she asked the city attorney about the constitutionality of the law; he said he would check into it. Last month, she was again told she was in violation of the ordinance and threatened with a $500 fine for each violation. She closed down her business temporarily and contacted the local ACLU chapter. On October 8, 2010, Judge Curtis Collier enjoined the City of East Ridge from enforcing the ordinance until the plaintiff's motion on a preliminary injunction could be heard. Read the ACLU's complaint here.
The City's ordinance states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to conduct the business of, solicit for, or ply the trade of fortune teller, clairvoyant, hypnotist, spiritualist, palmist, phrenologist, or other mystic endowed with supernatural powers. A violation of this section shall subject the offender to a penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each offense."
Numerous courts have found that prohibiting these practices violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the most recent being the Court of Appeals of Maryland in June. Might I point out that this ordinance has all sorts of other problems with it? How does one differentiate mainstream clergy from "spiritualists" and "mystics"? Are there no "hypnotists" working in or around East Ridge, Tennessee? A good many professional people use hypnotism in their practices without claiming that it is "supernatural" in any way. Dentists use hypnotism. Therapists use it. Psychiatrists use it. And examine the way the ordinance is phrased: "...endowed with supernatural powers." Is the assumption that such people have supernatural powers? No claim need be asserted at all? I am both flabbered and gasted.
N.B. In 2003, the ACLU of Tennessee challenged a Dickson, Tennessee ordinance prohibiting fortune telling (Dickson v. City of Daly). The ACLU won the case for Beth Daly.
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