Must the Government Waive Public Forum User Fees for Indigent Speakers?

• Published in: The University of Chicago law review Vol. 83; no. 4; pp. 2027 - 2070
• Main Author: Clarke, Elizabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago The University of Chicago Law School 01.10.2016; University of Chicago Law School; University of Chicago, acting on behalf of the University of Chicago Law Review
• Subjects: Administrative expenses; Analysis; Ballots; Comments; Constitutional amendments; Court decisions and opinions; Due process of law; Economic aspects; Equal protection; Equal protection clause; Fees; First Amendment; Forums (Discussion and debate); Fundamental rights; Laws, regulations and rules; Native peoples; Orators; Political activity; Political aspects; Political candidates; Political speeches; Poor; Printing machinery; Printing presses; Public forum doctrine (Law); Public hearings; Remedies; Social aspects; Supreme Court decisions; U.S. states; User fees; Waiver (Civil procedure); Waivers; UNITED STATES; United States > US
• ISSN: 0041-9494

Professor Harry Kalven Jr once called the public forum "the poor man's printing press." A significant feature of the modern regulatory apparatus governing access to the public forum, however, is that it often charges user fees to cover the costs of directing traffic, policing, and administering the public forum. And, as is the case any time the government puts a price on an activity, some people will be too poor to pay. This Comment asks whether the government must waive fees for indigent applicants for use of this "poor man's printing press," and if so, when and why.