ACLU: St. Martinville can't ban obscenities in Mardi Gras parade

The American Civil Liberties Union says the St. Martinville Police Department cannot prohibit Mardi Gras floats from playing rap music with obscene lyrics, according to an article in The Daily Iberian.
The newspaper quotes ACLU of Louisiana executive director Marjorie Esman from a letter Esman reportedly wrote to SMPD.
“I don’t think anything I’ve seen would be constitutionally permissible for them to ban,” Esman said. “There’s no legal standards for what constitutes as vulgarity.”
Esman also pointed out that the City would be on especially thin ice if it sought to prohibit specifically rap music with obscene lyrics, which, she said, “implies that other music that might also include ‘obscene’ lyrics would be permitted.”
There was apparently no mention of any constitutional issue involving the baring of breasts.
The issue arose after a City Council meeting at which Police Chief Calder “Pop” Hebert was instructed to eject floats from which music with obscene lyrics is being played loud enough for spectators to hear, or on which female riders are exposing their breasts to the crowds.
Hebert was also instructed to regulate parties by spectators where barbecue grills are in use.
Hebert subsequently met with the New Comers, the social organization that put on St. Martinville’s popular Mardi Gras parade, and agreed upon a set of rules for parade units.
Mayor Thomas Nelson has said the administration is trying to keep the parade “family-friendly.”
The New Comers’ Mardi Gras Parade is Sunday, Feb. 15.