11th Circuit En Banc Upholds City's Limits On Feeding Homeless In City Parks

In First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando, Florida, (11th Cir., April  12, 2011), the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals en banc upheld a municipal ordinance that limits the number of feedings of large groups that any person or political organization can sponsor in centrally located city parks in Orlando (FL). The court held that even if feeding the homeless is expressive conduct, the ordinance as applied to the organization Orlando Food Not Bombs is a reasonable time, place or manner regulation. A majority of the 3-judge panel in the case had held that feeding of the homeless here was not expressive conduct. (See prior posting.) The en banc court did not review other aspects of the 3-judge panel's decision, so the panel's rulings rejecting attacks on the ordinance under the free exercise, due process and equal protection clauses, and under the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act, were reinstated.