Originally published September 11, 2011. Updated October 2026.
Attorneys Shawn Flaherty and Noah Fardo helped overturn a City of Pittsburgh ordinance that restricted free speech.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl signed a measure repealing the ordinance. The City also agreed to pay attorney fees to Flaherty Fardo and to the attorneys for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
The ordinance banned placing written literature on vehicles without the car owner’s permission “so as to cause litter or unreasonably interfere with pedestrians or traffic.” Our clients were pro-life advocates who wanted to leave literature on parked cars.
The firm sued the City, arguing that the law was vague and stifled free speech. Part of the argument was simple: litter is caused by the people who toss literature into the street, not by the people who hand it out.
The settlement was helped by U.S. Supreme Court decisions suggesting that preventing litter is not a strong enough interest to justify banning leafleting. A federal court had also issued an injunction barring the City from enforcing the ordinance.
ACLJ attorney Ed White said it took “a federal lawsuit and an injunction from a federal court” to resolve the issue.
Noah Fardo agreed: “Chalk up one for the Constitution. While the plaintiffs were pro-life, the issue was really a constitutional issue, and the City realized very early that they were legally wrong.”
Read how the case began: Noah Fardo Helps ACLJ File Federal Lawsuit.
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