People who gather to watch sideshows garnered an unusual legal win, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just did donuts all over Alameda County’s law saying that it’s a crime to even watch a sideshow, and they struck that law down.

City governments all over the Bay Area have been grasping at straws for ways they can discourage or prevent sideshows from happening nigh every weekend during the warm-weather months. Alameda County even went so far in 2023 as to pass a law that made it illegal to even watch a sideshow, or in the law’s words, to “knowingly spectate” within 200 feet of a sideshow. Violators could be hit with three months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Oaklandside journalist Jose Fermoso brought a lawsuit challenging that law, as he often covers sideshows for that publication. “This law goes too far and criminalizes activities protected by the First Amendment, including reporting practices like observing events in a public space and taking videos or photographs,” Fermoso wrote.

A free speech group called the First Amendment Coalition represented him, though a federal judge ruled against them in October of last year. But the coalition appealed, and now the Chronicle reports that the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Alameda County sideshow-watching law in a  3-0 Thursday ruling.

The court’s Judge Holly Thomas wrote that a journalist “must observe sideshows in order to record them” and report upon them. And in a strange but amusing analogy, she added that the law could "not apply to Girl Scout troops who, innocent to a sideshow occurrence, set up a table to sell cookies within 200 feet of a sideshow event."

The First Amendment Coalition hailed the court’s decision.

"We've always felt confident that journalists and others have a constitutional right to be present where news is happening and to be able to record events that are happening in front of them in public spaces," the coalition’s executive director David Snyder told KTVU. "Journalists need to be able to do their jobs and cover newsworthy events in public spaces, but others have a right to be there as well to observe. Sideshows are newsworthy events."

Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley co-wrote the law, and said in a statement to KTVU that he was "extremely disappointed in the court’s decision." He added that “the sideshow[s] with the spectators [have] become too widespread, unruly, gunfire, burning cars, and other criminal and a social behavior that endangers the community ....Citing spectators would definitely serve as a deterrent!"

This may not be the end of that sideshow-watching ban. Alameda County’s attorney Matthew Zinn told the Chronicle, “We certainly respectfully disagree with the court’s conclusion and are considering next steps.” Those steps could involve appealing this ruling before a larger panel of judges at the Ninth Circuit.

Related: Alameda County Supervisors Vote to Make It Illegal to Even Watch A Sideshow [SFist]

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