Don't swear by the moon and stars in the sky

Residents in Middleborough, Massachusetts have voted to make the foul-mouthed among them pay fines for swearing in public. At a town meeting last night, residents voted 183-50 to approve a proposal from the police chief to impose a $20 fine on public profanity. Officials insist the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teens and other young people in the downtown area and public parks. "I'm really happy about it," Mimi Duphily, a store owner and former town selectwoman, said after the vote. "I'm sure there's going to be some fallout, but I think what we did was necessary." The main concerns here are whether the law is compatible with the First Amendment. The measure could raise questions about First Amendment rights, but state law does allow towns to enforce local laws that give police the power to arrest anyone who "addresses another person with profane or obscene language" in a public place. But the law might be incompatible with a Supreme Court ruling which states that the government cannot prohibit public speech just because it contains profanity. I hope the residents of Middleborough have prepared for a constitutional backlash because the bylaw may well be struck down in the Supreme Court.