A Florida appeals court says the state can continue to brand individuals convicted of sex crimes as “sexual predators” on their driver’s licenses.
The 5th District Court of Appeals says the markings do not violate the First Amendment. In January, a three-judge panel on the court ruled that the marking was unconstitutional.
The court heard arguments in the case of a convicted sex offender, Michael Crist, who was found guilty on charges of sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. In 2019, after he was released from prison, a probation officer found that he had covered the “sexual predator” marker with a “happy face emoji” sticker, and he was charged with possession of a driver’s license without the required markings. He was sent back to jail. He argued that the markings violated his First Amendment rights and constituted compelled government speech.
However, the court’s decision overturning the January panel’s ruling has rejected that argument. The judge who authored the opinion, Jordan Pratt, said, “Any reasonable observer will understand that it’s the state’s message that Crist is a sexual predator, just as it’s the state’s message that he is licensed to drive in Florida and has a certain date of birth, height, weight, or eye color.”
Judge Pratt reasoned that because the state is not requiring sexual predators to display a marking on their “front yard, office entrance, business advertisements, personal vehicles, or custom website” but instead on a driver’s license, which is “normally hidden from public view,” the markings are not an example of the government forcing people to “display or disseminate its message.”
In a concurring opinion, Judge Adrian Soud said the markings are a “means of protecting vulnerable children from those who may desire to sexually abuse them.”
Writing for the dissent, Judge Scott Makar said the markers constitute government-compelled speech and are not “narrowly tailored.”
Judge Makar said Florida could require individuals deemed to be sexual predators to have a marker that cites a statute number, instead of the words “sexual predator.” Florida has a separate designation for “sex offenders,” for individuals convicted of different crimes than those deemed to be “sexual predators.” For the former, the designation does not read “sexual offender,” but it instead lists “943.0435, F.S,” which is the Florida statute for sex offender registration.
He wrote, “A requirement that a registrant publicly wear a governmentally compelled tee shirt or badge saying SEXUAL PREDATOR would be highly effective in notifying the public about the person’s past sexual criminality; but it is doubtful such a requirement would be narrowly tailored to pass constitutional analysis.”
Judge Makar pointed to a ruling from the supreme court of Louisiana, which found that requiring sex offenders to carry identification cards was unconstitutional. He also noted that a federal district court in 2019 ruled that an Alabama law that required sex offenders to have a similar designation on their licenses was unconstitutional.
