A Provocative Mural in Louisiana Stirs Artistic Expression Debate

Published: March 16, 2018.

Artist mural of Trump's comments about women

Mural Photo by Robert Morris, included in ACLU’s complaint

When real estate developer Neal Morris commissioned local street artist Cashy D last November to create a wall mural using a quote from President’s Trump’s Access Hollywood taping, he did not expect the onslaught of letters from New Orleans officials claiming he could face jail time for commissioning the piece. Now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana is arguing in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana that “[t]he City of New Orleans’ murals-permit scheme . . . is a multipronged assault on the First and Fourteenth Amendments that requires Plaintiff, artists and their patrons to obtain government approval before engaging in their constitutionally protected freedom of expression.”

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