Opera Singer’s Free Speech Claims Against Va. City Move Forward

An opera singer arrested while singing “Ave Maria” on an Alexandria, Va., street corner, can proceed with her claims the city’s noise ordinance violates the First Amendment.

The city must defend Krista McClellan’s claims that the it’s noise control code isn’t narrowly tailored to serve the city’s interest in protecting its citizens from unwelcome noise and doesn’t leave open sufficient alternative channels of communication, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said Jan. 28.

The city also must answer McCellan’s claim that the code is unconstitutionally vague, the court said. The code contains some provisions that use ...