License to Describe: Defeating Washington D.C.'s Tour Guide Licensing Scheme

In Washington, D.C., talking without a license can land you in jail for 90 days. http://www.ij.org/dctours

Tonia Edwards and Bill Main are lawbreakers. Nearly every day, they teach a group of people how to ride Segways, and then take them around Washington, D.C., to talk about local sights and attractions. Their business is located near the National Archives, so one of the things they tell their customers is where the Bill of Rights is located. For this, the city government could throw Tonia and Bill in prison for three months. In Washington, D.C., it is illegal for anyone to give a tour of the city for compensation without first obtaining a special license—quite literally, a license to describe.

D.C.'s tour-guide licensing scheme is unconstitutional. Simply put, the government is not allowed to require people to get a license in order to talk. That is why Tonia and Bill have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file a federal First Amendment challenge to the city's tour-guide licensing scheme.

Tonia and Bill's lawsuit, filed on September 16, 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, will vindicate their right to earn an honest living by speaking as well as establish a very simple and important legal principle: The Constitution does not allow the government to be in the business of deciding who is—and who is not—allowed to speak about various topics.

Vindicating this principle will help protect the rights of countless people across the country that communicate for a living—whether they do so as news reporters, stand-up comedians or tour guides.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

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• IJ
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• 1st Amendment
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• Free Speech
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• Honest
• Living
• Licensing
• Regulation
• Constitutional
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[MooseOfReason]

An unconstitutional law is no law at all.

[whoo689]

A LICENSE to walk around and tell tourists about various landmarks and attractions in your area????

It just keeps getting more ridiculous by the day. And I thought requiring licenses to make and sell caskets was weird...

[olga2415]

When I was tangling with the IRS in ct. , I contacted the Civil Liberties Union and it wanted for me to waive all my rights to my own case, in order for it to "represent" me. Can anyone say "no deal"? Good. Because that's what you should say if ever you think you need that org. It is not what it purports to be. No "institution" on the globe purporting to represent "The People" is what it purports to be.

[olga2415]

We each and every one of us should find some unlawful edict or statute among the millions in place and bring suit against the criminal enterprise that is running roughshod over our natural God given rights. I already filed against the IRS and WON a cancellation of the fake debt. I wish I could wave a magic wand and say "all together now, Go!" and millions of lawsuits would be aimed at the govt. , ie, NWO, ie U.S. govt. [which is a private corp. entity.]You have Nothing to fear but fear itself!

[voogru]

@tourguidedc How about we let the customers decide for themselves.

What a concept...

[shamgar001]

@trekleader If I want to hire an unlicensed lawyer, what right to you have to stand between us?

[trekleader]

Segs in the City is an unlicensed tour operator; City Segway Tours is another tour operator that licenses their tour guides and follows the district's municipal regulations.

Tea baggers and nutcases are trying to make this very reasonable requirement to license tour guides into a constitutional issue. It is not a violation of free speech. Should the District not license, say, lawyers? They communicate with people. This is just dick-suck libertarianism...

[45CaliberCure]

@Denon333dash888 Ha ha! Sounds like he enjoys the government's help in thinning the competition. Good little sheep just take the test, and then another, and another. It's to protect the innocent tourists from incorrect information... They must be protected by the government! ;)

I'd love to see that test.

[Denon333dash888]

@tourguidedc I'd like to know how the test goes/went.

[tourguidedc]

What a sorry excuse for not getting a license. I have been a guide in DC for 22 years . We really need someone to test people for their knowledge. Most guides make about $35 ph and getting paid for at least four hours.. The amount a group or organization is paying the guide one would think they would want someone who knows what they are talking about. If your guides have never been tested by anyone but you how will your customers know if they are getting their monies worth.

[VintageGibson]

"Permits" and "licenses" are ways the government transfers wealth from the people to the tax coffers. It is paying for the privilege of exercising your rights. If I have a 1st Amendment right to speak, then requiring a license to do so is a fine for speaking.

[VintageGibson]

In the old USSR the government made so many laws that essentially everyone was guilty of crime all the time. Then the Soviet police used that as a way of controlling people. The people did what they were told out of fear of arrest for simply "living." There were so many ridiculous laws on the books that people couldn't not avoid breaking them. It is coming to that point in the USA. Even "Constitutional" rights are "licensed" or require "permits."