Not-So-Brigthon: City Makes It A Crime To Be Annoying

There appears to be no lawyers living in Brighton, Michigan or within telephone range of the city council. The city elders have made it a crime for anyone to commit acts that “seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose.” Putting aside the vagueness and overbreadth violations, there is the restriction on travel by Paris Hilton, Rosie O’Donnell, and the other annual recipients of the most annoying people.

The cost of being annoying is $500 for each annoying occurrence. Even Ann Coulter might have trouble cover those costs since every breath she takes is annoying to many people. With a standard of “no legitimate purpose,” people like Barry Manilow will have to stay a far distance from the town limits.

To make matters worse, this is a case of the constitutionally blind following the constitutionally blind. Brighton insists that it is copying the language from the town of Royal Oak.

On its website, Brighton promises its citizens “the highest quality of life – culturally, socially, economically and environmentally.” Notably, this does not include constitutionally.

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