What Elmhurst Can't Do About Antisemitic Flyer

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst police are limited on what they can do about an antisemitic flyer distributed to residents last week.

Whoever delivered the document cannot be prosecuted for the message itself. The First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, prevents that.

The person behind the flyers distributed them overnight Friday by packing them in bags of rocks, then throwing them from a moving car onto residents' driveways and sidewalks, city spokeswoman Kassondra Schref said in a message to Patch.

"First Amendment-protected speech is not under law enforcement investigation," Schref said. "The throwing of handbills, advertisements, or litter from vehicles onto residential property and public sidewalks is prohibited by local ordinance and the Illinois Litter Control Act. The distribution of litter in our community is under investigation."

In its original news release over the weekend, the police said the flyer was not specifically threatening. The police department also said the city condemns the spreading of hate propaganda of any kind.

In an interview, Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for ACLU of Illinois, said the city has every right to speak out against bigotry.

"The flyers are disgusting," he said. "They are not speech most of us would agree with."

At the same time, he said, the city should apply its enforcement of laws without regard to the message, as long as it involves no threat or any other crime.

If the city enforces the litter ordinance in relation to the antisemitic flyer, it should do so under the same circumstances for a flyer advertising a carpet-cleaning business or criticizing the local football coach, Yohnka said.