Chabad of Southern Ohio v. City of Cincinnati

Background

Plaintiffs who challenged a Cincinnati ordinance asked the Circuit Justice to undo a stay the Court of Appeals entered. The lower District Court had enjoined enforcement of parts of the ordinance after reading it to give the city exclusive use of Fountain Square for a seven-week period beginning that day. The Court of Appeals stayed that injunction, and the plaintiffs sought relief from the stay. The city offered a narrowing interpretation, but the Circuit Justice accepted the courts’ reading for deciding the emergency motion.

Reasoning

The central question here was whether the ordinance improperly let the city shut others out of a public square during the high-use period. Relying on the square’s historic role as a public forum and on prior Court guidance about expressive use of public spaces, the Circuit Justice agreed with the District Court that the challenged portions gave the city exclusive control. He concluded those portions were properly enjoined and that the Court of Appeals’ stay should be vacated, restoring the District Court’s order preventing the city from enforcing exclusive-use provisions for the seven weeks.

Real world impact

As an emergency order, this decision immediately keeps Fountain Square available to the public and groups during the seven-week window and prevents the city from asserting exclusive control for that time. The ruling addresses only the emergency stay and the near-term period; the underlying dispute may continue in lower courts. The order is limited to the specific ordinance language and the short time frame at issue.