塞缪尔·阿利托是周一唯一表示希望帮助密苏里州恢复针对性犯罪者万圣节限制的最高法院大法官。
Samuel Alito was the only Supreme Court justice on Monday to signal that he wanted to help Missouri revive a restriction for sex offenders on Halloween.
最高法院驳回了该案件及其他案件的审查请求，并在其命令清单中公布了待审上诉的最新进展。需要四位大法官才能批准审请，而大多数驳回请求均未得到任何大法官的评论，因此即使像阿利托这样的未作解释的标注也具有意义。该清单仅表示他“将批准”该州的请愿书，但未说明原因。
The high court rejected review of that case and others on its order list announcing the latest actions in pending appeals. It takes four justices to grant review of a petition, and most denials pass without comment from any of the justices, which makes even an unexplained notation like Alito’s significant. The list only said that he “would grant” the state’s petition, without explaining why.
尽管大法官有时会解释他们的分歧，但他们并不总是如此。无论如何，阿利托在此案中独自持异议并不令人意外。他通常支持执法部门，并在其他第一修正案争议中与同事持不同意见。
Although justices sometimes explain their disagreements, they don’t always do so. In any event, that Alito stood alone here is unsurprising. He generally backs law enforcement and has split from his colleagues in other First Amendment disputes.
该州在下级法院推翻一项要求登记罪犯张贴标语的法律后，寻求最高法院审查该案件，该标语内容为：“此住处不提供糖果或点心。” 在周一被大法官驳回的请愿书中，密苏里州要求法院受理此案，以解决其所说的全国性分歧：即性犯罪者通知是否违宪地强制言论，违反第一修正案。
The state sought Supreme Court review after a lower court struck down a law that required registered offenders to post signs that say: “No candy or treats at this residence.”In the petition the justices denied Monday, Missouri asked them to take the case to settle what it said is a nationwide divide over whether sex-offender notifications unconstitutionally compel speech under the First Amendment.
该州称该规则对于执行其禁止性犯罪者参与万圣节活动的禁令至关重要，“因为它有助于防止儿童接近性犯罪者的住所，并协助警方发现那些（如被告）非法参与万圣节活动的性犯罪者。” 本案请愿书的被告是托马斯·桑德森。他在2006年因性犯罪被定罪之前，他和家人一直持续举办精致的万圣节展示。密苏里州在他服刑期间通过了有争议的法律。他在2008年获释后被告知自己“享有祖父条款待遇”，可以继续每年的展示。直到2022年，此事才被警方举报，他因此被指控违反该法。
The state called the rule crucial to enforcing its prohibition on sex-offender participation in Halloween “because it helps prevent children from approaching sex offenders’ doors and assists police in detecting sex offenders who (like Respondent) unlawfully participate in Halloween.”The respondent to the petition in this case is Thomas Sanderson. Before he was convicted of a sex offense in 2006, he and his family had consistently put on elaborate Halloween displays. Missouri passed the law in question while he was incarcerated. When he was released in 2008, he was told that he was “grandfathered in” and could continue the annual displays. Apparently it was not an issue until 2022, when he was reported to the police and charged with violating the law.
维持下级法院有利于桑德森宪法挑战的裁决，美国第八巡回上诉法院表示，“没有足够证据支持州政府的主张，即该标志强制令是实现其目标的最不具限制性的手段。”
Upholding a lower court ruling favoring Sanderson’s constitutional challenge, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit said there was “insufficient evidence to support the State’s assertion that the sign mandate is the least restrictive means of achieving its goals.”
成功阻止最高法院复审，桑德森表示，下级法院之间没有真正的分歧需要解决。他表示，在他案件中的上诉法院“适用了已确立的第一修正案原则，推翻了一项不寻常的言论强制”，并且“没有上诉法院或州最高法院对该裁决持异议。”
Successfully opposing review at the Supreme Court, Sanderson said there was no real division to resolve among the lower courts. He said that the appeals court in his case “applied settled First Amendment doctrine to strike down an unusual speech compulsion,” and that “no court of appeals or state high court disagrees with that ruling.”
在阿利托大法官的反对意见下，大法官们拒绝审查针对性犯罪者的万圣节标志规定。MS NOW
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